Warriors: Nightfall's legacy
by Dragonwolfpup
Summary: Nightkit is a young kit who fled from Onyxclan when her mother was killed by their leader. She fled to none other than Onyxclan's rival clan, Rubyclan. And it just so happens that she holds that clan's fate in her paws.
1. Prologue

Greenmane sat in his den, tending to a sick cat when it hit him.

A vision sent from starclan had come to him after months of hoping for a sign of anything that would prophesize the future of Rubyclan, However, this prophecy confused him.

He finished his work on the cat's wounds and ended up giving the fluffy white tom some syrup made from bramble twigs to help him sleep.

When Greenmane was absolutely sure the young warrior was sleeping soundly, he rushed out of the medicine cat's den and into the leader's den.

"Wickerstar!"Greenmane called urgently.

The Light brown tabby lifted her head and looked up at the black and grey manx.

"Yes Greenmane? What is it?" Wickerstar mewed quietly.

"I've received a vision from starclan." He stated.

At this, Wickerstar sat up quickly.

"A vision?" she inquired. ,"What did it say? Is Rubyclan's future bright? Tell me!"

Greenmane quickly began to recite the message he recived from starclan.

"The Fates of red and black are intertwined under the veil of the night." Greenmane shook his head."I'm not particularly sure what it means. All I know is that the fate of Rubyclan rests in darkness."

Wickerstar looked at Greenmane for a second then dismissed him. when Greenmane had left, Wickerstar laid down again. Greenmane's words echoed in her ears as she thought herself into sleep.

-Note-

This story takes place in the ancient clans that existed way before the clans in the first 6 books of the warriors series. The 4 clans are,

Rubyclan - Thunderclan's predecessor

Rubyclan cats are known to be fiercely loyal and passionate in whatever they do. However, they are also kind cats who don't hesitate to lend a paw. These cats also happen to be the most fierce fighters in the forest. Onyxclan's sworn enemy

Sapphireclan - Riverclan's predecessor

Sapphireclan cats are very swift and quick thinking. These cats are the very wary type, suspecting everyone else when something happens. They like to stay to themselves, and almost never ask for help from outsiders due to their pride. Quartzclan's sworn enemy

Quartzclan - Windclan's predecessor

Quartzclan are very strong and resilient. Even in the toughest times, Quartzclan can always pull through. Quartzclan cats are always slightly hesitant to help others, but in the end, they will always lend their strength to cats in need of it. Sapphireclan's sworn enemy

Onyxclan - shadowclan's predecessor

Onyxclan cats have it best in the way their part of the forest is lush and thick. The issue is, that because of this, Onyxclan cats are very paranoid that the other clans will take their land and kick them out, or steal all the prey and leave them to starve. They've come to be a stingy and underhanded clan under the rule of their vicious leader, Foxstar. Rubyclan's sworn enemy


	2. Run

I laid in the grass, muttering slightly in my sleep as my mother watched over me. Purring, she sat next to me and licked the top of my head tenderly.

"Wake up Nights. I've gotten food for us." She said quietly in my ear.

With a quiet mew, I rolled over towards my mommy and opened my eyes sleepily.

"Food?" I asked quietly. ,"What kind of food?"

She chuckled. ,"Can't you smell it?"

I sniffed the air, the scent of a fresh mouse making my mouth water slightly. ,"You got a mouse?" I asked.

"Yes I did my kit. Mouse is your favorite, isn't it?"

I stood slowly, my legs slightly shaking from the lack of use that day. Quickly shaking them out to get the feeling back in them, I followed the scent of the mouse to the base of a tree.

The fat, brown, creature had blood matted in the fur around its neck and head.

I leaned down and grabbed the little mouse by the scruff of its neck and brought it to my mother.

Putting it down in front of her, I used my claws to tear it in half, making blood pour out onto the ground. When I finished, I pushed the mouse's bottom half towards my mom, who huffed.

"Hey! I was the one who caught it! How come I get the end with the tail?"

She playfully swiped at me and, laughing, I grabbed the snout of the mouse's head and jumped back out of the way, my tail lashing back and forth excitedly.

My mother purred happily and bent down to eat the half of the mouse that lay on the ground in front of her.

I did the same.

We ate in silence, both of us savoring the taste of the large mouse. I especially liked the taste of it because mice are the best type of prey in my opinion.

Within seconds, I had snapped up my half of our prey and looked up at my mom while she finished hers.

My mom was a pretty cat, she kinda looked like a tiger with small spots and stripes. However, Her beauty was slightly tarnished by her lack-of-food thin-ness.

Compared to each other, our fur was inverted. My mom had a brown coat with black stripes and lighter brown spots, but I was black with very dark brown stripes.

I stared at the half-finished mouse with eager eyes. My mother's brown eyes met my red ones, and she lifted up. She pushed the leftovers towards me with a purr.

,"you can have the rest."

With no words, I automatically leapt onto the mouse and gulped it down. With a satisfied smile, I rubbed up against my mom.

,"Thanks for the little mouse!" I purred happily.

She purred back to me as she rubbed her cheek against mine.

Suddenly, there was a snap somewhere close in the dark forest.

My mother raised her head, suddenly alert. Her nose twitched as she sniffed the air to see what it was that made the noise.

I did the same, and caught the scent of rancid crowfood and blood.

looking down at me in alarm, my mother pushed me under a bush where I rolled in a patch of old foxdung to cover my scent and curled up tightly, trying to blend into the darkness that was around me.

Standing, my mother fluffed out her fur slightly and unsheathed her claws.

We both waited in the darkness for whatever was coming. My eyes darted around, looking out from under the bush to see what was coming while my mother stood uneasily, her tail flicking slightly and her ears moving around to try to hear what was coming.

After a few minutes I started to come out, thinking that the danger had passed, before scrambling back when a loud hiss came from a big black cat who leapt over the bush that I was hiding under.

The large tom Landed on top of my mother before she could turn around in time.

He flattened her, but she refused to go down without a fight. With a growl, she slipped out from under him and turned, slicing his muzzle with her claws and then launching at him with her teeth bared.

The cat tried to dodge it, but my mom still managed to take a good chunk out of the back of his neck.

Dark red blood stained the black cat's fur as he stumbled back slightly. He looked at her with yellow eyes that blazed with anger and hatred.

My mother hissed at him again, her ears slicked back against her head in anger and fear.

The cat chuckled darkly and smiled, showing pointed teeth that seemed to be the trademark sign of a Onyxclan cat.

"Well, Well, Well. what do we have here?" he said in a deep purr that was laced with anger. ,"My former mate, now a traitor to her own clan? Shame."

"Be quiet Blackfur. You know that I left for a reason." my mother growled angrily.

Blackfur slowly started to advance on her.

"Oh come now Tigerstripe, why don't you come back? Come back to the clan, to me. We miss you, And I miss my kit." he said sweetly as he still padded innocently towards her. ,"How old would our kit be now? About what, 5 moons? Speaking of my kit, I would love to see her."

Suddenly Blackfur launched at my mom, lashing out at her with his claws and knocking her off balance.

He tried to pin her down again and this time succeeded, holding all four of her paws down.

Raising his head, he yowled a call into the night, and within seconds, The leader of Onyxclan, Foxstar, had emerged from the bushes in front of my fighting parents.

My former leader looked down at the scene and gave a cruel smile that made my fur stand on end.

,"Well hello Foxstar." My mother said with deathberry juice dripping from her every word.

"How has everything been with the clan? Anymore kits or apprentices dying from being used as some warrior's punching bag, or from being trained too much?"

I flinched slightly at how much she emphasized the word dying.

Chuckling darkly, Foxstar padded over to Blackfur and whispered something to him, which made him hesitantly step off of my mother, who jumped up. She hissed violently at foxstar and crouched slightly.

Foxstar just stood and looked at her with a very unsettling smirk on his face that, for some reason, absolutely terrified me.

Suddenly, and with no warning, Foxstar leapt at Tigerstripe, unsheathing his claws and hissing back at her.

This started a vicious battle between two cats that, from what I knew, used to get along like the fish and the water.

I watched in horror from under my bush as fur and blood flew around the whole clearing and the noise of two cats fighting filled the air.

It was only a few minutes until Foxstar stood in front of my mothers dead body, covered in his own and her blood.

He turned to Blackfur, who didn't look sad or didn't look like he cared at all about his former mate's death.

"Find the kit" Foxstar said simply before limping off towards Onyxclan camp.

At this point, I was terrified, and I also wanted to see if by any chance if my mom was ok, but, knowing that it's what ma would want me to do and it just wasn't safe for me here, I just slipped out from under the bush and ran. I couldn't take seeing my mother's dead body on the ground, or the bloodlust in my father's eyes.

I shot through the forest, vowing to myself that my mother would be avenged.

Foxstar would not get away with this.

none of Onyxclan would.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Heyoo errcat!

I am a huge fan of the warriors series and so I decided that hey, why dont I make a warriors story?

So..yeah!

May starclan watch over you

Un-Cya l8tr kitteez!


	3. Hide

I ran through the forest, my heart pounding with fear.

The image of my mother's broken and bloody body burned into my mind.

Foxstar was evil. He was an evil cat. He was the son of Dragonstar, the former leader of Onyxclan. When Dragonstar died, instead of the former deputy Featherfur becoming leader, Foxstar killed him and became leader himself. He was a strong cat, yes, and a good leader, if he didn't practically torture his own clan.

Foxstar insisted on training the apprentices as hard as possible, which resulted in many deaths. He also made sure to kill the sick and elderly himself, which is why there was no elders and no medicine cat. All he wanted was a strong clan, and that was an admirable goal for any clan leader, but he went about it all wrong. Even his deputy, my former father Blackfur, knew it was a bit much, but supported him anyway because he wanted a strong clan as well.

I continued to run as fast as possible, keeping my mouth slightly open and my ears sharp. I darted through the forest, away from Onyxclan territory.

I needed to find somewhere safe. Somewhere where Blackfur could not find me.

Soon enough, I found a small hole in the roots of a tree that was just big enough for me to fit into.

As I rested and tried to calm my nerves, an old memory of mine surfaced from back when I was actually a member of Onyxclan.

I was playing with an old friend of mine, freezekit, when I heard Foxstar's angry hiss from his den. Freezekit and I were curious and crept closer to the large stump of a fallen oak where the leader's den stood.

"Tigerfur! Do you want this clan to fall to the paws of sickness or weakness? Do you want this clan to die?" Foxstar Hissed angrily.

"No Foxstar. I don't." Said my mother's calm voice. ," I just think that you must stop pushing these apprentices so hard. Many are dying. Too many."

Foxstar laughed.

"Of course they're dying! The weak must fall. That stands for both other clans, and cats of this one. The runts, the sick, the elderly, they all must go if this clan wants to stay strong. Even your little brat should be dead. That little runt is a disgrace to this clan. Only reason she's still breathing is because of my deputy."

My eyes widened. Foxstar wanted to kill me? What did I do?

Freeze put a paw on my back and looked at me with a mix of worry and simpathy in his gold eyes.

A loud crack snapped me back to reality. I sniffed the air and caught the scent of rotten crowfoot. The signature scent of my father.

"She's got to be around here somewhere. She's a kit. She can't get very far. We have to find her." Blackfur said.

"Blackfur, is it really that important that we find this kit?"

"Yes, now shut your muzzle and come on!" He growled angrily in response.

Both cats fell silent, which told me that they were concentrating all of their energy on finding me.

I slowly crawled towards the back of the root cave and curled up. That was all I could really do if I wanted to survive.

I closed my eyes, concentrating on keeping my heartbeat steady and my breathing quiet. I sat there, too terrified to sleep, hoping that the fox dung I rolled in earlier would cover my scent.

Soon enough, I started to hear no voices or smell any cats.

Slowly, I poked my nose up out of the hole to see if I could pick up a scent. I opened my mouth slightly and the only strong scent that hit me was the smell of a rabbit.

I licked my lips. I was so hungry. I hadn't eaten since sunhigh, and now it was about moonrise.

I crept out of the hole carefully. Even if there were no cats near, there could easily be a patrol coming.

Keeping my mouth slightly open to keep the scent of that rabbit, I slowly made my way through the forest.

Every few fox lengths, I slipped under a bush or into an abandoned badger set to hide and make sure no cats were around.

After a little while, I managed to find the rabbit. Hiding in a bush, I could see the plump little brown rabbit standing alert next to its hole.

I flexed my claws.

I had to catch this rabbit. I've never hunted before, but I've seen my mom do it.

I crouched down and lowered my head, my eyes trained on the rabbit. I lightly flicked my tail in anticipation. I put my weight on my haunches just like mommy did. I was about to make my first catch ever.

Suddenly, the rabbit's nose twitched, and it scampered down its hole.

I sighed.

I stood and walked over to the hole and poked my nose in.

"Hello, rabbit! Come back so I can feed my belly!" I meowed into the rabbit hole.

As I expected, no one answered my call.

I looked up again.

There was a little white mouse looking straight at me.

I blinked at him for a second before leaping at the mouse.

He turned and tried to run, but I was on top of him before he could go anywhere.

Sadly, I had jumped so hard that when I landed, I tripped over my front paws and flipped over, landing quite a ways from the mouse, which sped off in the opposite direction.

I slowly stood. Two hunting fails in one night. I looked around and noticed that I was standing in the open.

Quickly I darted under a nearby bush and checked to see if there were any cats around. Lucky for me. There weren't. However, I did smell an unfamiliar scent. It then occurred to me that I might be at the edge of Onyxclan territory.

This was close to Rubyclan's borders.

I looked up through the canopy of the bush to the sky.

I wanted to look at silverpelt. I wanted to see the star that would mark the place of my mother, however, clouds covered the sky, stopping the beautiful glow of the stars above. I laid down. I needed sleep.

In the distance, could hear the meows of many cats. My stomach growled.

I laid there with my eyes open. I was tired, but I was unable to sleep. Every little sound in this forest terrified me. As long as I was here in Onyxclan territories, I was risking my life.

Just as my eyes finally began to close, I saw a dim silver glow around me. I looked up, and saw that a single star had broken through the clouds and was shining down onto me. Seeing it calmed me.

"Hi mommy." I said as I laid down again and slipped into a dreamless sleep.


	4. Escape

The next morning I was awoken by an attack.

I was jolted awake by the sharp pain of claws tearing into my pelt. I jumped up, immediately awake, and turned to see the grinning muzzle of Blackfur.

Without thinking, I lept at him, hissing and unsheathing my claws.

Luckily, my father wasn't expecting my attack, and was not able to dodge in time, because I slashed viciously at him and felt my claws sink into something soft and squishy.

Blackfur let out a yowl of anger and pain, swinging his head, making me fly off of him and land a few tail-lengths away.

Slowly I stood and looked towards him. He stood there for a second, panting, before he looked up and I gasped.

My father's face was fine except for the fact that his right eye was torn and bloody. I immediately knew that I had just permanently half-blinded my own kin.

He bared his teeth at me and glared at me with his one yellow eye slitted in anger and hatred.

I immediately ran.

At this point, I did not know where I was going. I didn't even care. All I knew was that I had to get away from this murderous black cat.

The smells around me were slowly becoming more unfamiliar as I ran. I knew that I was running into new territory. I was going into Rubyclan's territory.

I looked behind me and saw that my dad was gaining ground on me, and fast. I willed myself to go faster. If I valued my life, I had to escape.

I weaved through the trees, the forest passing me in a blur. At this point, I had to have been running faster than a twoleg monster.

I pelted through the forest, my fear both feeling my sprint, and distracting me from watching where I was running. Because of this, I did not see the badger set in front of me, and I stumbled over it, breaking my right hind leg.

I fell, tumbling over myself and rolling until I hit a tree.

By time I finally got myself back together, I was cornered. Blackfur loomed above me, his large muscular form looking very menacing against the light of the rising sun.

"Finally" He mewed smoothly. ,"I've finally caught up to my little kit. You've grown faster, but why are you running from your father?"

He raised his paw, ready to strike when a brown blur suddenly barreled into him, knocking him down.

The brown cat stood, holding Blackfur down.

"Blackfur! What are you doing in Rubyclan territories!" Hissed the brown cat angrily.

"Hunting." Blackfur purred simply with an innocent grin. ,"And I was just about to finish off my prey."

"A kit is not prey." Growled the she-cat bluntly.

"My kit, my rul-" Blackfur began before he was interrupted.

"Blackfur, leave my territory. Now. Before I kill you like I said I would last time I caught you on our territory."

Blackfur chuckled.

"My dear Wickerstar. You wouldn't kill me. You're too weak and cowardly for that." He meowed tauntingly.

"I am not weak! Unlike you and your disgraceful leader I don't just kill for no reason. I would never kill unless I have to." Wickerstar spat.

"Exactly. That's why your clan is weak. Because you're weak." He purred.

Growling angrily, she takes her hind claws along his belly, causing Blackfur to yowl in agony.

Wickerstar stepped up off of Blackfur, and with one last contempt look at me, he turned and retreated back to Onyxclan.

With a growl of good riddance to the fleeing black furred cat, Wickerstar turned to me and leaned down.

I cowered from her, my fur bristling. She may have just saved my life, but I was still a cat from another clan that was on her territory.

The light brown she-cat chuckled slightly at my defensive reaction.

"Don't worry kit" She purred gently. "I wouldn't hurt you. Not in the state that you're in. You need some help. Here, let me take you to Rubyclan so that my medicine cat can heal your leg. Can you walk at all?"

In response, I tried to stand, but felt my broken leg buckle under my weight. I Hissed in pain as I flopped back onto the leaf-strewn ground.

Letting out a gentle mrrow of laughter, Wickerstar picked me up by my scruff and walked through the forest, deeper into Rubyclan territory.

As we walked, the trees and undergrowth grew thicker, and soon the plants were so thick, it was impossible to get through without losing a bit of fur. Despite this, I smelled cats, and lots of them, all reeking of the scent of Rubyclan.

Wickerstar walked around the border until she came to a stream made tunnel in the side of the mountain that was part of the territory that was just big enough for two cats side by side.

She went through, and pushing through the curtain of moss on the other side, we entered Rubyclan camp.

The camp was bustling with life. Cats were walking around and talking to other cats. Many of them were eating fresh kill or sharing tongues.

I looked around the camp in amazement. I'd never been inside Rubyclan territory before. The camp looked a bit more than a half circle. The border was made up of the oak trees that surrounded most of the camp, and the mountainside where we came into the camp from.

To the left of the entrance, there was a small tunnel where a large grey furred cat with a black head and yellow eyes just emerged from. The cat stretched, its strong muscles rippling under its coat. From the way he looked, he was probably a warrior.

On the other side of the warriors den there was another tunnel bordered by thorny bracken that I, at first, thought might have been the apprentices den, until two kits who looked no older than 3 moons tumbled out of the tunnel while they were play fighting. Their possible mother, a fluffy white queen, poked her head out of the tunnel and called to them, ushering them back inside.

I looked to my other side at a large bush that had grown just inside the camp. The inside seemed to have been cut away to make space for the apprentices that stayed in there. As I looked over there, a young black cat with a wide white stripe going from its head to its tail came out next to a cat with light golden fur. They both stopped when they saw Wickerstar and then looked at me.

Embarrassed, I looked away at the other side of the clearing. On the other side was a circle of large boulders with a small bush and some moss growing across the top of them. There was a large gap in between the two rocks in the front and I could see some cats in there and hear their arguments. That had to be the elders den.

In front of me, I could see a giant Boulder which was obviously this clan's meeting area. Under it, I could see another little den carved out that was clearly the leader's den. To the right of the leader's den, next to the apprentices den, there was a bush in front of a boulder. The bush was hollowed out in the same way that the apprentices den was, and I could only guess that the boulder had a den carved out of it as well for the medicine cat and their herbs.

Soon enough, we got to the other end of the clearing. As we approached the medicine cats den, I noticed that there was a large reddish-brown cat who was staring at me, his green eyes suspicious.

My fur instinctively fluffed up slightly in defense, as if that cat would yank me out of Wickerstar's jaws and kill me.

Wickerstar entered the medicine cat's den and gently placed me down on a soft bed of leaves.

"Greenmane!" Wickerstar meowed into the large crack in the boulder. ,"I've got a kit with a broken leg for you to deal with."

For a few heartbeats, there was no answer, until a large black and grey cat who smelled of catmint padded out from inside the boulder.

The elderly tom looked at Wickerstar.

"A kit with a broken leg eh? Was 'e playing with one of those roughhousing apprentices?"

Wickerstar shook her head. ,"No, This kit was being chased by Blackfur."

The Medicine cat tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"Wha, Blackfur? You mean, Foxstar's deputy? Why was 'e traumatizing a kit?" He meowed inquisitively. It was then that The cat looked at me.

He took a long look at me then leaned down and sniffed me.

"Well i'll be." He meowed in surprise. ,"I know you. Why, you were just a wee kit when I first met ya. Your Tigerstripe's kit, 'aint ya."

I said nothing, too startled by the things that were happening at the moment to answer.

"Well kit? Ya 'aint mute, Ah, ya know what? I'll leave ya be for now. Let's see that leg, shall we?" He chuckled as he leaned down to inspect my leg.

As he did, Wickerstar turned around and walked towards her den, where the cat from earlier joined her and whispered something in her ear with a glance back at me.

I sat in the nest slightly uncomfortable because of the fact that I was in an enemy camp. I looked to my left and saw that there was a pretty calico who had cobwebs pressed onto multiple bite and claw marks on her back.

"That's Rosetail. She was attacked by a savage loner down by the lake." The medicine cat aid suddenly.

I jumped slightly and looked at him. He must have seen me looking at rosetail.

"A timid thing she is. Shame that a loner would just out and attack an elder like that." He sighed.

He suddenly stood and looked around. ,"Where's that good-for-nothing apprentice gone off to? The mouse-brain probably went off with his friends even though he knows that there are sick cats who need his help." He grumbled as he padded out of the den.

I watched as the cat trotted lazily through the tunnel that lead out of the camp.

As soon as he left, Wickerstar padded in once more and looked at me.

"What's your name kit?" She asked gently.

I just stared up at her without speaking.

"Don't worry kit. I won't hurt you. I just want to know what to call you while you are here.

I gulped. ,"Before I left Onyxclan, I was Darkkit. After that, my mom called me Nights."

Wickerstar looked at me for a second before meowing gently ,"Nights. Well, then nights. Seems like you will be staying here for awhile while you heal."

I nodded, and watched as she turned to walk away.

"Wickerstar?" I said as she stepped out of the den.

She turned her head to look back at me. ,"Yes Nights?"

"Can you keep it a secret that I'm an Onyxclan cat? I don't think that any cat would like it if they knew that you were helping an

Onyxclan cat."

She nodded, then turned away once more, and walked away.

I put my head back down to wait for the medicine cat, but I immediately jumped up when I heard a slight hiss from my left.

Rosetail was staring at me angrily. ,"I knew I smelled that clan. Why are you here? Why did Wickerstar bring you here? You're a spy for them, aren't you? You're here to kill us all!" She growled accusingly, tilting her ears back and baring her fangs.

The slender calico slowly stood, her claws unsheathing.

"Your clan took my kit! He was going to be a warrior, and Foxstar stole him!" She hissed.

Suddenly, she launched at me, flying towards me with sharp claws, and ruthless hostility in her eyes.

I scrambled away with a cry of fear, using my three usable legs to drag myself away from the attacking she-cat.

I felt her claws rake the fur of my flank violently. She'd missed.

I struggled to get out of the den, but I couldn't make it in time. Rosetail was on top of me, pinning me down just like how blackfur did.

My heart racing, I did the only thing I could think of. I unsheathed my own claws and attacked the elder, raking my claws across her snout.

She paused, surprised that I'd retaliated, and I used that to push my tiny kitten hind claws across her belly.

She flinched slightly, but didn't move away. Her eyes blazing, she leaned down to sink her teeth into my throat, but before she could, a Grey-black blur barreled into her side, knocking her off of me.

The medicine cat had come back and was holding Rosetail down, hissing angrily. ,"What do you think you're doing? Attacking a kit? And a wounded one at that! Get back over there and rest! Now!"

"But Greenmane, that is a shadowclan kit! Why is it here? We need to get-"

"Mouse-Brain!" Greenmane interrupted. ,"This kit needs help, and by starclan I will help her! Now go!"

He let Rosetail up, and, obviously unwilling to continue arguing, walked back over to her nest without another word.

Greenmane turned back to me.

"Now...uhh, what's your name?" He asked me.

"N-Nights." I meowed shakily.

"Nights, eh? Well, I am Greenmane. And this," He flicked his almost non existent tail to bring forward a sandy brown cat who looked like he was an apprentice. ,"Is Wolfpaw."

"I'm training to become a medicine cat!" Wolfpaw Meweled excitedly.

Greenmane rounded on him. ,"Not if you keep going off with your friends when there's work to be done you're not!" He softened slightly. ,"Now go get some sticks, a broom poultice, and some bindweed for this poor kit's leg."

"Sticks, Broom poultice, and Bindweed. Got it!" He echoed before darting into the dark rock.

Greenmane bent down and gently began licking my broken leg. After a minute, he noticed some thin scratches on my flank from Rosetail's attack, and began licking those too.

Soon, wolfpaw came back with all of the materials, and he bound my leg up then walked away.

Greenmane told me that I should get some sleep, and left some poppy seeds for me just in case I needed them, then walked into his den.

I looked up through the bracken, and saw that it was just between moondown and sunhigh. I sucked up some of Greenmane's poppy seeds, and laid down, allowing myself to gently fall asleep.


	5. Rest

The next time I woke up, it was dark outside. I could see moonlight streaming through the entrance to the bush, and guessed that it had to be moonhigh.

Rosetail was gently snoring next to me.

I stood, keeping the weight off of my left leg. It might have felt better, but I knew that it would need time to heal.

I limped out into the bright moonlight. It was pretty close to another full moon. The gathering would be soon. I would have to be as far away as possible by then just in case Blackfur or Foxstar wanted to look for me.

I looked around the peaceful camp. Everyone was sleeping either in their dens or in the moonlight.

Wolfpaw was sleeping in front of the apprentices den, the moonlight turning his brown fur to nearly silver.

Sighing, I padded away and was about to go through the tunnel and leave Rubyclan when I heard a meow behind me.

I turned to see Wolfpaw slinking towards me.

"Where ya going?" He meowed quietly, looking at me with amber eyes.

I looked at him, then turned away silently, ignoring him completely. I had to leave as soon as possible.

"H-hey, wait! You need to heal!" He put a paw on my flank.

I stopped and turned to look at him. An irrational anger suddenly boiling up inside of me.

I crouched, fluffing my fur up threateningly.

"And what do you care? I'm not from your clan! I'm a loner. It's every cat for himself. Now leave me alone!" I lied, hissing slightly under my breath.

"He sighed. I know that you're from onyxclan. It's faint, but I can smell it. I know Onyxclan is our enemy, but, a cat in need is a cat in need. It's all the same to a medicine cat." He sighed. ,"But I can't make you stay. If you do leave, Take some broom with you. It will help your leg."

I slowly stood, my fur laying down slowly.

"Why does it matter to you? Don't you want me dead? As you said, i'm Onyxclan." I mewed cautiously.

He nodded ,"And as I also said, it's all the same to a medicine cat. I want to help you, I really do, but if you want your own cats to help yo-"

"No!" I Meowed loudly, the sound echoing throughout the forest.

Wolfpaw immediately leaned closer and put a paw over my mouth.

"Shhh!" He hissed. ,"You'll wake all the cats from here to starclan!"

We waited tensely to see if anyone did awaken from my outburst, but no one did. We both sighed in relief.

Wolfpaw put his paw down and flicked his tail as a signal to follow him.

When I didn't, he looked around. ,"I just want to talk. I know a place where we won't be overheard." He meowed simply before entering the tunnel.

After a moment's hesitation, I followed him.

We trekked around the base of the mountain for a few foxlengths, until we came to a large pile of boulders next to the side of the mountain.

"This is near where the Moontree grows. You know about it?"

I did know about it. This was the place where clan leaders and medicine cats came to seek guidance and to speak to starclan. At moonhigh, the moonlight would shine into the giant trunk of the tree. Cats went in and starclan sent them sleep.

I nodded to the Grey-blue tom in front of me.

He leapt up the rocks, helping me on my own way, and slipped into a small space between the large boulders.

Side by side, we walked along a dark tunnel for what felt like a moon before we finally came into a cave with a sparkling river lit by a crack in the ceiling that moonlight filtered in through.

I walked through, looking around in awe,"This place is huge!"

Wolfpaw chuckled, padding up to Night's side

"I know. Now." He walked around me and laid down on the floor. ,"What's your name?"

"Nights." I meowed quietly. I gingerly laid down in front of him.

I was getting kinda used to this kind apprentice.

"Well, why did you come here to Rubyclan? Isn't your mom looking for you? Don't you think your clan would be worried?" He asked with a gentle mew.

My heart beat faster at the thought of what happened earlier yesterday. I swallowed sharply.

I shuffled my paws in front of me.

"W-well, I was chased off."

"Chased!" He echoed.

"Yes." I don't know why I was telling this cat. Something just told me that he was ok. Something told me that he was trustworthy.

"My mother, she was a traitor. Well, in the eyes of Foxstar. She had told him to stop treating the clan so badly. Because she defied him, he called her a traitor and ordered for both her and I to be chased out. He also told all of Onyxclan to kill us on sight if they found us. It just so happened that they did find us. We were laying in the grass between Onyxclan and Quartzclan territory When blackfur found us."

Wolfpaw gave a small gasp of fear and alarm.

"He attacked us. We knew some cat was coming, but not him. My mom told me to hide, and I did, but I saw the whole thing. In the end, My mother was killed by Foxstar, who was called there by Blackfur. I will never forgive Onyxclan for what they've done to me. And I will especially never forgive Blackfur."

Wolfpaw tilted his head to the side in confusion. ,"Why Blackfur specifically? Didn't Foxstar kill your mom?"

I nodded, but looked away and didn't explain further.

"Ya know, I was going to become an apprentice soon. Next moon in fact." I meowed quickly, changing the subject.

"I just became an apprentice. A few days ago actually. I have to learn all this stuff from greenmane. He takes this stuff super seriously. I mean, It's so much! What if I can't learn it all and I'm useless to the clan when they need me most?" His voice was getting higher and higher as he spoke. ,"What if they exile me? What if they hate me?"

"Your a really good medicine cat in my eyes. You helped me even though I'm from a rival clan. That's one of the best things a medicine cat can do. Well, unless you're my sister." I finished bitterly.

"Your sister? What did she do?" he asked.

"Well, to prove her loyalty to Foxstar and to avoid being cast out with me and my mom, she helped Foxstar exile us, then was honored by the clan for it."

"Harsh. Must be sad. Losing your own sister. I lost my brother. An Onyxclan warrior named Grassfur took him."

I looked up at him, startled. Grassfur was a long-haired tom who did all of Foxstar's dirty work. I remember my mother telling me that during the time when Onyxclan had barely any kits, Grassfur had come to camp with a crying kit in his teeth. He gave the kit to my mother to raise, and that cat had ended up being my best friend. Freezekit.

"How's your leg?" Wolfpaw asked suddenly, Moving to lay beside me, and look at it.

"Better." I meowed.

I laid my head down and yawned.

Wolfpaw looked at me and gave a gentle purr, laying down next to me, his warm fur pressed against mine.

"You need sleep. That leg won't heal if you're too tired to do anything." He said as he looked up towards the cave ceiling.

,"Thanks Wolfpaw." I mewed gratefully.

"You know, if you leave, you should know that you'll have a friend here in Rubyclan. If you need it."

I nodded. It was nice to have a friend again after all this time. I'd had only my mother since I was only two moons.

"Hey!" Wolfpaw suddenly said, jumping up excitedly. ,"What if we convinced Wickerstar to let you stay here in Rubyclan? We could be friends! You could meet all of my other friends too!"

I looked up at him.

"I don't think that anyone would like that. You saw how Rosetail reacted to me." I meowed sadly.

He scoffed. ,"Rosetail? Oh, what does she know? She's just angry. That's all. Come on! Please?" He held out a paw for me.

"Uhhh...sure...I guess, but maybe I should get some sleep." I meowed pointedly, reminding wolfpaw of what he said earlier.

He lowered his paw and smiled nervously ,"Oh, right. Ok. Get some sleep. Then we'll go and see."

He laid down next to me once more as I put my head down on my paws.

I suddenly awoke in a large, grassy field unlike anything i'd seen before. The seemingly endless grass around me seemed to glow from the light of silverpelt, which was brighter than ever. The grass around me gently swayed even though the air around me was completely still.

Standing up and raising my head above the tall grasses, I saw a cat sitting on a rock that, after a moment, I recognized.

It was my mom. Her fur was dotted with stars, and her body was slightly transparent, but I could see her tiger striped pelt, her colors of black on light brown inverted from my own dark brown on black. She faced away from me, towards the setting sun, which, in the back of my mind was odd because it was supposed to be nighttime, but I didn't care because I was seeing my mother again.

"Mommy!" I yowled, bounding through the emerald green grass towards the She-cat.

As I got closer, She turned her head to look at me out of the corner of her eye, her gentle amber gaze resting on me.

I bounded up onto the rock next to her, immediately beginning to purr loudly and rub against her.

She chuckled and nudged me with her tail, causing me to look at her.

"My sweet kit. Nights." She purred gently. ,"I've missed you. But I don't have much time to stay. I want to show you something. Look over there."

She flicked her tail towards the sunset.

I looked over and saw another cat, prowling through trees what were not there before.

Her tail flicked gently as she crept through the bushes, her mouth open to catch any scents and her ears alert for any sound. She paused, her black and brown fur gently rippling in nonexistent wind, and her red eyes trained intently on something unseen ahead of her.

In the moment that the cat leapt out of sight and the scene vanished, I realized that it was a much older version of me.

I looked at my mother, confused. ,"Wha-" I began before she interrupted me.

"There are great things in your future nights. You will become a very strong and loyal warrior one day. I know it." She leaned down and rasped her starry tongue over my ear.

I stayed silent for a minute before asking ,"Strong enough to kill Blackfur?"

My mother froze, flinching slightly at the mention of her killer's name.

"Maybe." She whispered, raising her head up again to wash her chest awkwardly.

"I will avenge you mom. I promise." I meowed stubbornly.

She nodded.

"I'm sure you will, but for now I think that it is time for you to wake up."

The second she said that, things immediately began fading away quickly.

I could feel the darkness slipping over me like a cold wind.

"Mom...You won't leave me will you?" I said as my vision finally faded.

The last thing I heard from my mom was the gentle mew of,"Never my kit. I would never leave you."


	6. Rubies

Me and wolfpaw shot through the forest, Exercising my healed but stiff hind leg.

My tail streamed behind me as I streaked through the trees behind wolfpaw, who was bounding easily through his territory.

We burst through the tunnel entrance to Rubyclan camp and he tripped, making me fall over on top of him, and together we wrestled around in the middle of camp, laughing as we pretended that we were warriors and battled each other.

I heard a yowl from somewhere, but I didn't pay any mind to it.

Suddenly I felt the wind get knocked out of me as a strong paw slammed directly into me, knocking me away from wolfpaw.

I sat dazed for a second before I recovered and looked up to see rosetail staring down at me in rage.

Her beautiful Blue-grey fur was fluffed up and her teeth were bared as she hissed,"You Onyxclan cats! You have nothing else on your mind other than mauling and stealing away the cats of other clans!" Her tail lashed from side to side and she crouched, claws unsheathed, preparing to pounce. ,"You may have taken my other kit, but you will not hurt This one!"

Rosetail pounced, hissing violently.

Panicking, I dodged to the side and ran blindly, Trying to escape rosetail.

As I neared the leader's den, I saw that the angry she-cat was gaining on me quickly.

Ahead of me, I saw one of the large oaks that made up the camp boundary looming in front of me.

I had an Idea.

Coming up to the tree, I bent my hind legs, pausing for a second to look back.

My eyes locked with the fuming elder's bright green eyes, and she pounced towards me. In the same heartbeat, I leapt up, My claws scrabbling on the wood for a good pawhold. Once I found it, I risked looking down again. Rosetail had crashed headlong into the tree at full speed and was now lying motionless at the bottom of it.

I gasped.

"Did I just kill a cat?" I thought to myself.

I slowly began to creep my way down the tree, but stopped when I realized that the whole of Rubyclan had their eyes trained on me. Most were hostile, some just shocked. Then I saw wolfpaw. He was standing perfectly still, his eyes trained on his mother.

When he looked at me, His expression was unreadable.

"What's happening?" A female voice asked.

The crowd of silent cats parted to reveal Wickerstar and the Reddish-brown tom I saw with her the first time I came into Rubyclan.

The Tom looked up at me, and I saw him slowly unsheathe his claws.

Paying no mind to who I assumed was her deputy, Wickerstar lightly padded up to the unmoving pile of fur and nosed at her.

Raising her head, she turned to her clan with a somber expression.

"Rosetail is dead." She meowed slowly.

Immediately, The group of cats around her exploded into furious yowls and hisses.

I heard multiple calls of "Mouse-brained Onyxclan cat!" and "You piece of foxdung!"

Suddenly I saw a Golden-brown blur shoot up the tree towards me.

Before I could move, I felt teeth sink into my scruff and pull me down off of the tree.

She sat me down in front of the dead body of Rosetail and sat in front of me, Fluffing up her fur threateningly.

"What are you all doing? Do you realize that this is a kit?" The she-cat growled threateningly.

"Yeah, but Emberpelt, This is an Onyxclan kit! She killed Rosetail!" Responded a pure white cat in the front.

I watched the circle of cats as Emberpelt launched into an argument about how it was an accident and how rosetail was just old.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shape separate itself from the clan and barrel towards me.

Yowling In fear, I leapt up and managed to land on top of the cat.

"Nights! Get off of me!" The cat yowled from below me. It was wolfpaw.

I leapt off of him, tripping accidentally and rolling into rosetail's body.

I looked around at all the cats around me, My gaze finally resting on wolfpaw.

He slowly padded closer to me and held out a paw.

Or a moment, I could not hear or see anything. I was trapped in a black bubble, the voices of many cats swirling around in my head.

All of those cats calling me names and calling me out on being Onyxclan born.

Suddenly I was back to the real world, and looking at wolfpaw offering his light grey paw to me.

Panicking, I raised my own paw and swiped at his, pushing it away, then darted away, Heading straight towards the camp entrance.

I heard a few cats break away and give chase, but they left me alone when I left the camp.

I sprinted through the forest, trying to find somewhere to go, my paws flying under me as I mindlessly sprinted through the trees.

Soon enough I managed to come to a large clearing with four large, tall, flat topped boulders surrounding a small pool of water.

The clearing held the stale scent of many cats, and I realized that this must be Rockpool, The gathering place that stood directly in the center of the clan territories.

Slipping between the rocks, I sat at the edge of the tiny pool of water. Looking around, I saw a small gathering of leaves and padded towards it.

I pushed my way through and sat down in the middle of the tiny cave.

My mother and I had frequently come here to hide from Foxstar's patrols and from Blackfur's hunts.

My stomach rumbled. I was so caught up in things that had happened that I hadn't noticed that I hadn't eaten since earlier when Wolfpaw had shared a plump vole with me before we went to the the camp.

That vole seemed a long way away now.

I sighed. Pulling the discarded bracken back over the entrance, I laid down.

The next two nights I stayed in the den, Scavenging for crowfood because of the fact that I had no Idea how in starclan to hunt.

The third night, I scented a cat nearby, and backed up to the very back of the cave.

Suddenly, a familiar, Slightly flat face poked through the bush and peered into the cave with narrowed yellow eyes.

,"I know you're here nights. Come on out. Wolfpaw's been hassling me all day trying to find out where you'd gone." Greenmane grumbled, but there was a hint of humor in his gruff voice.

slowly I stood up and creeped toward Greenmane, comforted by his voice.

,"Wolfpaw?" I asked. ,"He wanted to find me?"

Greenmane nodded.

,"Little guy was worried about you. He seems to have gotten quite fond of you." He purred in amusement.

,"There was also another reason he wanted some cat to find you." Meowed a smooth voice behind me.

I whirled around and looked up to see wickerstar peering down at me with a smile on her muzzle.

,"Nights, Would you want to join Rubyclan? It is clear that you are not able to return to Onyxclan, and I doubt that, because of your lineage, you would be accepted into any other clan."

I Stood looking at her, completely dumbfounded.

,"J-Join Rubyclan? But what about-"

,"Oh, don't worry about those mousebrained cats." Purred another voice as the Golden-brown she cat who protected me earlier bounded up beside Wickerstar, Her tail flicking slightly.

As I looked up at the three cats, I suddenly felt a warmth in my heart. These cats cared for me. They only wanted to help me.

Slowly I nodded, And we made our way back to camp.

On the way, Wickerstar turned to me and asked ,"How old are you Nights?"

,"6 Moons." I replied quickly.

Wickerstar nodded, and stayed silent The rest of the way to the camp.

The second we got there and entered, I was bowled over by a small grey shape.

,"Why did you leave? Where did you go? Are you ok? Any scratches or anything that my medicine cat powers can help with?" He meowed quickly.

Greenmane twitched his whiskers in mock annoyance and picked up wolfpaw by the scruff and padded off to the medicine cat den, most likely to give wolfpaw a good talking to, with a flick of his tail.

Meanwhile, I was walking behind wickerstar and Emberpelt, who was hissing fiercely at any cat who even looked at me sideways.

Once we got to the leader's den and the large stone, whickerstar jumped up on top of it.

,"Will all cats who can catch their own prey Gather beneath the boulder for a clan meeting." She yowled, the summons echoing throughout the camp.

Slowly, more and more cats began to slip out of their dens and from the corners of the camp to gather around me and Emberpelt, who gently wrapped her tail around me as if I was her own kit.

Multiple cats gave me low hisses or growls as they passed, and I found myself grateful for the fierce golden furred cat beside me.

Once the clan had settled around us and the hostile muttering faded, Wickerstar began speaking once more.

,"As you know, there is an Onyxclan cat in our territory." Wickerstar was interrupted by yowls of anger from the surrounding group of cats. She waited until they had quieted down until speaking once more. ,"Cats of Rubyclan. After some thought, I realized that this cat is unable to return to her own clan, and most likely not be accepted by any other clan."

A cat somewhere in the back yowled ,"Well who said that we will accept it?" Which was accompanied by some mews of agreement. Emberpelt growled angrily, but said nothing as Wickerstar continued, paying no mind to the outcall.

,"This has led me to decide to accept this cat into our clan. And since she has agreed to this, there is a ceremony that must be performed."

Wickerstar looked down at me. ,"Nights, will you please step forward."

Looking around self-consciously at the many hostile eyes of the cats around me, I padded forward and sat down in front of the Boulder, looking up at wickerstar.

,"If you Intend on becoming a full Rubyclan cat, you must be given a clan name. Nights, You have reached the age of six moons, and though you come from a different clan, It is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Nightpaw." Many cats reacted to this with hisses and jeers both to me and her, but she still ignored them. The only sign that she'd heard them was an irritated twitch of her whiskers.

,"Your mentor will be Emberpelt. I hope Emberpelt will pass down all she knows to you."

Emberpelt's ears pricked up in pride.

,"Emberpelt" Wickerstar continued after a second ,"you are ready to take on an apprentice. You've received excellent training from Greyfang."

The large grey tom behind me leaned forward slightly to whisper to emberpelt.

,"Don't tell me that My apprentice took on an apprentice from another clan. Onyxclan no less." He hissed in her ear.

Emberpelt turned her head to look at him and hissed for him to shut up and looked back at wickerstar, who had been waiting for the bickering to stop.

,"As I was saying, You have received excellent training from Greyfang and have shown time and time again that you are loyal and strong. You will be Nightpaw's mentor. I know that you will pass all of your training down to this cat."

At these words, Emberpelt stood and touched her nose to mine, purring slightly, a flicker of happiness and pride swimming in her green eyes.

When she stepped back, All of the other cats were standing there staring at me in silence, but that silence was quickly broken by two chanting meows of ,"Nightpaw! Nightpaw!" coming from the back of the group.

The sea of cats parted to reveal that those meows were coming from Wolfpaw and Greenmane.

I immediately padded over to them, Emberpelt following, and playfully rammed into Wolfpaw's side.

,"See? I told you that you would be able to join!" Wolfpaw mewed excitedly.

,"Yeah." I purred. ,"Hey, you wanna fight?"

I put up a paw and gently swiped at his snout. He jumped back and then pounced on me, Sending us into a writhing mass of fur and paws. Soon enough, Emberpelt separated us and looked at me.

,"Come on Nightpaw. Let's get you familiar with the camp and our territory."

I nodded and began to follow her, but wolfpaw ran over to us before we could go anywhere.

,"Wait, Emberpelt! Can I come? Please?"

Emberpelt looked at greenmane who just flicked his tail dismissively.

,"Why not?" He meowed gruffly ,"He needs time to stretch his paws."

Wolfpaw gave a yowl of excitement and ran up to join us.

,"Alright, come on. Center of camp. I need to show you where everything is." She purred gently.

She padded to the center of the camp and sat down with me and wolfpaw next to her.

,"So, have you figured out where everything is already?" She asked as she looked at me.

I nodded.

,"Well then? Where's the warriors den?"

I pointed to the den next to the entrance.

Emberpelt nodded and then looked back as she heard a friendly meow.

,"Hello Emberpelt." Said a lean white cat.

,"Hello Wispclaw." She said with a flick of her tail.

,"Training your new apprentice?" He asked as he looked down at me. ,"Nightpaw, wasn't it?"

,"Thats me." I meowed. ,"What's it to you?" I fluffed my fur up threateningly in an attempt to deter this cat from possibly attacking me.

Wispclaw purred and playfully jabbed at me with a paw.

,"Feisty one, Just like you." He chuckled. His black tipped tail flicked in amusement.

,"Hey, I'm not that bad!" She huffed indignantly.

,"Hey, aren't we supposed to be training?" Wolfpaw interrupted.

The two older warriors looked at me and wolfpaw.

,"You should learn to respect your elders wolfpaw. But yes, I guess you're right." She growled angrily.

Wolfpaw leaned over to me. ,"Good luck dealing with her, She's one of the most sharp-tongued, and sharp clawed, cats in this clan." He meowed lightheartedly.

Unluckily for him, Emberpelt heard him and he was given a nice swat on the head for his muttered comment.

,"So, where is the apprentice den?" She said, turning to me after threatening wolfpaw with having to get the elders ticks out.

I looked around. ,"Ummm, There." I meowed, gesturing towards the den on the opposite side of the Camp entrance.

As I pointed, a young reddish-brown tom padded out and stretched.

,"That's Halfpaw. You wanna know why he's called that?" Wolfpaw asked.

I nodded, and he called over to Halfpaw, Who looked up at us.

I gasped. This cat was completely split in half. The side that was facing me and Wolfpaw was the color of a sunset, while the other side was completely black. He looked at wolfpaw and gave a friendly wave with his tail, Then his eyes, which was green on the Reddish side and blue on the black one, slid to me.

He looked at me with curiosity for a moment before padding over.

,"You're the new cat, right?" He asked in a oddly deep meow.

I nodded. ,"I-Im Nightpaw."

He smiled at me.

,"Well, I'm glad to see a new face around here. I'm getting tired of seeing Lightpaw's muzzle." He meowed playfully.

,"Ehem" Emberpelt growled ,"Weren't we supposed to be doing something, or am I interrupting?"

,"Oh! Sorry Emberpelt." I meowed quickly.

Purring in amusement, Halfpaw turned away and padded off towards the fresh-kill pile, which happened to be next to the elders den.

Emberpelt showed me where everything else was before telling me to go get something to eat. She thought that I looked a bit too thin. She also said that I would need my energy for real training the next day. Wolfpaw agreed and offered to eat with me.

We shared a vole and just talked a little bit before i padded off to the apprentices den, where halfpaw was waiting for me.

"You can sleep over here next to me. It was Underfur's old nest." He said, gesturing with his tail towards the nest next to him.

,"Thanks." I mewed, padding over and curling up in the slightly flattened nest.

He twitched his whiskers in response.

After a moment of laying there, I spoke.

,"Hey, Halfpaw?"

,"Hmm?"

,"How come-"

Suddenly I was interrupted by an angered hiss from somewhere in the dark den.

,"Shut up mousebrain! I don't know how they do it in your clan, but here, we sleep at night. Got it you piece of Foxdung?"

Startled, I fell silent, not daring to speak again just in case I provoked an attack.

After a minute, well after the angry apprentice had seemed to fall asleep along with the others, I heard a gentle whisper from Halfpaw,"What were you saying?"

I looked at him, His eyes glinting curiously in the darkness.

,"Well, I wanted to know why you're being so nice to me." I mewed gently, dropping my voice to a whisper.

,"Well, I guess it's because I'm sort of an outcast in this clan as well. I am a half-clan cat. My father is the deputy, Heatclaw. He's that bit tom that stays close to wickerstar all the time. He has the color of the fur on my right side." He flicked his tail over his right side. ,"My mother was a beautiful fluffy black cat with a big white circle on her back. Her name was-"

"Moonrise." I said absently, accidentally cutting him off.

He looked at me, startled.

,"Yeah actually. You know her?"

I nodded," Yeah, She was a good friend to my mother. She sometimes brought us fresh-kill during leaf-bare when there was any to spare."

"Really? I never knew that." He mused, looking towards the dark and empty clearing in the center of camp.

,"So, why did you leave Quartzclan?" I asked.

He looked at me for a moment, his eyes unreadable, before he smirked slightly and laid his head down on his paws.

,"That story can wait. Let's get some sleep. If your training with Emberpelt, you're going to need it. Trust me."

I nodded and yawned. A cold leaf-fall breeze blew in from outside and made me shiver, forcing me to move closer to Halfpaw for warmth.

As I did, I felt him tense slightly, but eventually he relaxed.

Laying my head on my paws and tucking my nose under my tail, I allowed my eyes to close and fell asleep.

Just before I did, however, I smelled the strong scent of blood and felt the sticky substance in my fur and on my paws.

Darkness is coming, and a shadowed claw will strike it down.

XXXXXXXXX

Omfg guys, I'm so sorry! I just realized how many mistakes I have throughout this story from accidentally calling the Ancient clans the names of the current clans to Inconsistent descriptions of the cats over the chapters. I am incredibly sorry about this, and I am working on fixing these problems. Hopefully next weekend I will have all inconsistencies and problems fixed and i will be able to continue with this story.

Thanks for bearing with my scatter-brained-ness. Love you all 3

C-ya L8tr err-kitteh. :3


	7. Rough Training

I felt a paw poke me in my side.

,"Wake up you lazy badger! It's time to train!"

I woke with a start, Leaping up and fluffing my fur, looking around wildly.

,"Whoa! Calm down. Are you ok?" the cat asked in concern.

I looked around slowly to see Emberpelt watching me with worry in her green eyes.

Forcing my fur to lie flat, I nodded and sat down, drawing a wet paw over my face.

Narrowing her eyes at me for a second, she suddenly stood up and turned away with a flick of her tail. ,"Ok. Well, If you're sure, come with me. I want to see what you know about hunting and fighting."

Internally happy that Emberpelt was not going to ask questions, I followed her out of the den.

In the center of the clearing, Two cats were rising from their vigil for rosetail. One of them was wolfpaw, and the other was a Black cat with fur that was spiked up with dried mud.

As I stepped out of the clearing and looked back, I saw the other elders come out of their den and pick up rosetail to bury her.

,"It's not your fault. It was an accident." Emberpelt whispered into my ear.

,"I guess" I sighed.

She flicked her tail, beckoning me, saying ,"Come on, a bit of training will get your mind off of it."

Nodding, I followed her into the forest.

We padded through the forest, towards the border between Rubyclan and Sapphireclan.

,"This is the border on the western side of our territory. This border marks the end of our territory and the beginning of Sapphireclan's. Remember the smell well. Sapphireclan cats are paranoid of all the other clans. They've been attacked so many times by other clans that they trust no cat anymore. They don't really even come to gatherings."

She stood and padded off, walking along the border with me padding behind.

Suddenly, she paused and looked at me.

,"What do you smell nightpaw?"

Caught off guard, I jumped slightly. My mind was not on the task at paw, but on the dream I had last night.

,"Umm" I meowed, Quickly opening my mouth to catch a scent.

,"I smell fish" I mewed uncertainly.

Emberpelt chuckled. ,"Yes, that would be Sapphireclan scent, but what _else_ can you smell?"

Pushing past the strong fish smell that was nearly drowning out all the other scents, I realized that I could just make out something else

,"Rabbit!" I Meowed loudly.

Emberpelt hissed at me.

,"Shush Mousebrain! You'll scare off all the prey from here to the rockpool!"

Flattening my ears back and looked down. I could feel my fur heating up in embarrassment.

,"Now, watch me."

Opening her mouth to keep the scent of the rabbit, she dropped into a hunting crouch.

Her eyes narrowed, she glided forward, strategically placing her paws in the areas that were not covered by the fallen brown and crunchy leaves. Her tail was straight out, level with her body so that it wouldn't brush the ground or alert the prey to her presence.

She froze, hesitating for a second.

I held my breath, terrified that making the smallest noise would scare away the prey and ruin the whole hunt.

The brown rabbit's fluffy tail flicked slightly, Its ears flopping as it nibbled on a seed.

Slowly I crouched as well, My eyes trained on the scene before me.

The tension was so thick that it could be cut with a claw.

Suddenly, she pounced, Flinging her body over the tall grass that the rabbit was hiding in.

The animal squealed in panic and tried to flee, but Emberpelt was already on top of it.

With a swipe of her sharp claws, she dispatched the rabbit, Pridefully grabbing it in her jaws and bringing it to me.

I sat, awestruck at how cool my mentor looked as she made her kill.

She dropped it in front to say something, but before she could, I was already reaching for a bite.

A Flame-colored paw swiped the side of my head, and with a yelp, I sat back, looking up at Emberpelt with a confused look.

,"What? What did I do? Aren't we supposed to eat?" I questioned.

,"No." She growled ,"The warrior code says that kits and elders must be fed before the rest of us."

,"Oh." I muttered.

As far as I'd known, You could eat whenever you wanted. Back in Onyxclan, The kits actually got the scraps that were left behind. Foxstar said that it would make them stronger.

,"However" She continued ,"Since we are not on a hunting patrol, we may eat."

My ears pricked up.

,"So, only hunting patrols have to wait?" I questioned.

Emberpelt nodded and leaned down to take a bite out of the rabbit.

I leaned down as well, but Emberpelt moved the rabbit away from me.

,"Not until I see your hunting crouch." She meowed around a mouthful of food.

Using her tail, she lifted the rabbit by its long, floppy ears, maneuvering it so that it looked like a regular rabbit instead of a dead one.

Unsure of myself, I dropped into a clumsy crouch, Lifting my tail up off of the ground like Emberpelt did.

Suddenly Emberpelt stuffed the rabbit under the roots of a nearby tree.

,"It got away." She meowed simply.

I sat back, confused.

,"There were two things wrong with that crouch." She meowed, answering the question I was about to ask.

,"First of all, you made way too much noise. When you crouched, your belly hit the floor, making the leaves crunch. You also weren't watching where you were placing your paws."

I looked down. Just as she'd said, My paws were in the wrong place. I hadn't taken the time to pay attention and had put one of my paws directly on top of a thin stick on the ground.

,"The second thing was that you were upwind. The prey have noses you know. They can smell you."

,"They shouldn't be able to." I muttered under my breath.

"Well they can whether you like it or not. Now," She pulled the rabbit back out. "Do it again. And Pay attention. A Hunter needs to stay calm and concentrate. Impatience loses the prey. Didn't you ever learn that?"

I chose not to respond to her question, because I had a answer for her that would have earned me a nice cuff around the ears.

Instead, I faced the rabbit again. I slowly crouched once again and felt the gentle wind in my fur. I was upwind again.

Trying to concentrate, I stalked around the rabbit, giving it a wide berth so that Emberpelt wouldn't smell me and make the rabbit "Run" again.

I watched the brown fur intensely. I wasn't going to let it go this time…

I saw it hop. I did something wrong.

Before she got the chance to move it, I leaped out and Dashed at the animal without a second thought.

Emberpelt threw it towards the tree, and it flew just barely touching the ground.

I double-timed my run, Trying to catch it before it hit the tree.

I couldn't let it go. Scrunching my hind legs behind me, I launched myself towards the rabbit, knowing that we we only around a tail-length away from the tree.

I reached my paws out, my claws stretched out.

I suddenly heard a Yowl of anger, and felt something slam into my side.

I rolled across the ground, Slamming into Emberpelt, who hissed violently and leapt in front of me.

I looked around her paws to see three cats in front of us.

Two of them were warriors, and one was an apprentice. The warriors were both she-cats, one being all black, and the other being an odd unnatural green color.

The apprentice was a small grey tom with really long fur.

"Emberpelt! What are you doing Here? You're quite close to the border, Teaching your new crowfood kits how to steal our fish? Trying to plan an attack on us?" The green cat hissed angrily.

The Black one sniffed and stiffened. I saw the black cat's claws flex, and sidled behind Emberpelt, preparing to run if she needed to.

"Onyx! I smell Onyxclan! Are you plotting with them? You're plotting with them, aren't you!" She looked straight at me with wild eyes.

"You! You're the Onyxclan cat!"

The second she said that, the grey tom shot out from behind the green cat, and leapt at me with a yowl. While he distracted Emberpelt, the two warriors attacked her.

I tried to reach her to help, but the grey apprentice managed to dig his claws into my fur and lightly rake my fur.

Spitting violently, I shook him off and whipped around, unsheathing my claws and just barely scratched his nose, which sent him reeling, giving me the chance to pounce at him and rake my claws down his side.

With a Hiss of anger, He clamped his jaws around my tail, Making me Yowl and fall over. I felt the tomcat's claws dig into my shoulders, and rake down my back. I could feel the blood seeping through my fur as he ferociously clawed my back.

Thinking fast, I kicked out with my hind legs, kicking out his legs, flipping myself over to make him fall on his side. I leapt up, landing on him and winding him.

I leaned down, and bit his ear tightly making him thrash violently in an attempt to get me off, but my claws were too deep into his skin.

Before I could do anything else, I saw the green cat out of the corner of my eye, and I felt her violently attack me, yanking me off of the grey cat. As we fell, I heard a loud ripping noise, and saw the cat's ear tear in half, leaving a large piece in my mouth. I saw him get up and limp away as fast as he could yowling in pain and fear all the way.

The green cat on top of me growled and leaned down.

"You hurt my apprentie you piece of foxdung! Let me teach you the strength of Sapphireclan!" With that, she dug her long claws into my side, making me yowl in agony as I felt them scratching my ribs. Hissing, I swiped my claws at her face, but she leaned back out of my reach, and scratched my snout in response.

She then leaned forward, reaching for my ear, but I managed to kick at her with my hind legs, distracting her just enough to squirm out from under her and Get on top of her.

She thrashed violently, trying to throw me off, but I hung on with all my strength, until she finally managed to fling me off, slamming me into a large rock.

I attempted to rise to my paws again, but too late. The Green cat raised a thin paw, the sharp claws fully extended, and rage filling her eyes.

"This is for Strikepaw you Onyx crowfood!" She yowled, her paw swinging down to my face.

I closed my eyes, accepting my fate, preparing to feel the rake of claws over my throat, But it didn't come. Instead, a loud and and familiar hiss came as the weight on top of me disappeared.

I opened my eyes to see Wispclaw tumbling away from me, locked in vicious battle with the green cat.

Shakily I stood as a few more Rubyclan cats joined the fray.

"Nightpaw, look out!" Somecat yowled, and I spun around, just in time to duck under the attack of a huge brown tom.

He whipped around in midair with amazing agility, and charged the moment he landed, ramming his body into mine, sending a shock of pain down my whole body.

I Hissed, reeling back from the blow, but managed to regain my senses just before another attack from him. Leaping up, I used the same move I did with Rosetail, allowing the apprentice to slam into the rock below me, bouncing him back with a yowl of agony.

Another yowl sounded, this time less aggressive, and the fish-smelling cats backed away all at once, except for a grey warrior with black stripes who grabbed the disoriented and bloody apprentice I fought against.

I watched as the wounded Sapphireclan cats ran off, disappearing off who knows where.

I looked around. Everyone was wounded, but it seemed like everyone was in good spirits, except one cat here. A very small cat with white and black fur was scowling and assessing the battlefield, until his eyes landed on me. Once they did I saw his lips pull back into a snarl and he stood.

"You!" He yowled loudly, causing all of the cats to look at him.

"What do you have to do with this Onyx cat? Are you planning something with those mousebrained Sapphire cats?"

He advanced towards me, and I instinctively crouched and unsheathed my claws, weak, but unwilling to flee if a fight did start.

"I-I did nothing." I said, mentally cursing myself for the stutter in my voice."I don't know those cats."

The short warrior continued slowly stalking towards me.

"Uh huh, good excuse bu-" He was suddenly stopped by Emberpelt stepping in his way.

"Kindly leave my apprentice be Crowface. We were merely doing some training. She would have had no time to plot an ambush in the first place." She walked over to me and nudged me up."Now, Nightpaw and I will be getting back to the camp for the day."

I stood and prepared to walk alongside my mentor, but just then, the blood loss kicked in, and I began to fall, only to be caught by a familiar Split-pelted apprentice.

"I'll come too." Halfpaw said, holding my weight with his shoulder.

Together, we made our way back home.

Once we entered camp, Emberpelt walked off to report the attack to Wickerstar, while Halfpaw took me to the medicine cat's den.

The second we went in, we both heard the medicine cat's deep meow.

"Well now, look what we 'ave here. One day, 'an already good 'an battle-worn. What kinda' training Emberpelt puttin' ya through?" He purred, a laugh slipping out as well.

"Wolfpaw!" Greenmane yowled "Get in 'ere 'an tend to this injured cat!"

"Coming Greenmane!" Wolfpaw responded from deep within the den.

A minute later, he ran out and up to me.

"Nightpaw! What in starclan happened?"

"Sapphireclan cats attacked while they were training." Halfpaw responded as I laid down on my side, too weak and in too much pain to stand any longer.

As Halfpaw left with a gentle meow of goodbye, Wolfpaw set to work, licking my wounds clean and putting poultices of goldenrod on my wounds, along with some catchweed to hold it in place.

Once he finished, he got me some food to put into my stomach, some water to soothe my thirst, and invited me to sleep.

Gladly I ate, drank, and laid my head on my paws, my tail draping itself over my nose, and closed my eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Heyooo errkitteh!

Been a good while since I've been writing much of anything, so here I am suffering at 3:30 in the goddamn morning to give you a nice long chapter as an apology for not updating literally anything. Don't worry, I haven't died tho. Just...Severe depression.

Anywhosles, no more depressing stuff. I have a bit of a request. I am human, and I fuck up. Badly. Do me a favor, and if you see any odd continuity issues from the big (like accidentally calling Onyxclan, Shadowclan) to the small (like someone's fur color is wrong). Please note, if something changes from one chapter from the next, follow the continuity of the newer chapter. (For Example: Nightfall's eyes are blue in chapter 3, but red in chapter 5. The red will be the correct color, because chapter 5 is the newer chapter, meaning the info has been changed/updated. The blue eye color would be the incorrect color for Nightfall's eyes.

Ok, so, sorry for long outro, but just needed to say that.

Cya L8tr Katz and Kitties! :3


	8. On the hunt

"Gah! I'll never get this right!" Nightpaw Hissed angrily as a brown mouse skittered down into it's hole.

She pawed her face in frustration. This was about the fifth time she'd failed to catch anything.

As a bit of training, Emberpelt had decided to take Nightpaw out on a hunting patrol with Wispclaw, Halfpaw, and a mouse-colored tabby named Underfur.

she still needed training, so once she healed, Emberpelt took the first opportunity she had.

"Dumb Onyx cat. Can't even hunt right." Underfur muttered under her breath before leaping off over a bush.

Emberpelt hissed gently.

"Don't listen to her. Concentrate on your task Nightpaw."

"Right." she said, nodding.

Looking around with her mouth slightly open, Nightpaw caught sight of a large squirrel burying its nuts in the ground in preparation for the coming winter.

She instinctively crouched low, feeling the dirt beneath her paws.

She crept forward, feeling a gentle breeze hit her face. "I'm upwind, I'm low, I'm quiet." She thought to herself, ticking the points off in her head.

It raised its head, the squirrel's beady eyes roving the leaf-fall forest for danger.

Nightpaw held her breath and continued her crawl.

" _Oh starclan, please, don't let it run."_ She thought to herself as she inched closer.

As it went back to burying its nuts, She managed to get in range.

Bending her hind legs, Nightpaw leapt.

She flew through the air, claws out and adrenaline pumping through her veins as she did so.

The squirrel turned and tried to run away, but she was too fast for it.

She landed and snatched it up just before it got out of range, and threw it up so it couldn't run anymore.

She caught its neck in her teeth, killing it with a shrill squeal from the poor animal.

Nightpaw walked over to Emberpelt, her tail held high as she brought her first successful kill to the golden warrior.

She laid it at her paws and looked up at her mentor, whose eyes were filled with pride.

"See Nightpaw? I told you that you could do it." She said with a smile, putting her paw on her head.

She stood with a gentle purr.

"So it seems that you are better at a battle than you are at hunting, but with practice, you'll get the hang of it. I'd bet my tail on it. Now, let's see if you can do it again."

"Aww, what? Can we do some battle training or something?" Nightpaw whined, getting into a fighting crouch and wiggling her haunches with claws unsheathed.

She yelped as Emberpelt cuffed her on the ear with a paw.

"No, you can fight later. For now while we're out here, we hunt. After all, we are on a hunting patrol.

Rising once more to her paws, she grabbed her squirrel and buried it, making sure she could remember the area, and padded off with her mentor, her tail drooping.

When Nightpaw and the hunting patrol came back to the camp, her black tail high in the air with her tailtip flicking proudly.

SHe'd not only managed to catch that squirrel, but she'd also been able to catch a plump mouse.

Pricklefur came by and gave a nod to the hunting patrol, then glanced at Nightpaw and gave a wry smile.

"I can't accuse Onyxclan of stealing our prey if you're giving it to us." He joked sarcastically before walking off towards the nursery.

A growl brewed in Nightpaw's throat as the Black-furred warrior padded off, but Emberpelt's tail flicked her nose, signaling for silence.

With a snort, Nightpaw stomped off towards the fresh-kill pile.

"Nightpaw!"

She turned around and saw Wolfpaw padding towards her.

"Is that your first kill?" He asked curiously.

Nightpaw flicked her tail and gave a muffled answer.

"Oh, right." The grey apprentice mumbled sheepishly.

They walked side by side until Nightpaw could finally drop her catch on the fresh kill pile.

"Ok, Now, Yes, the Squirrel was my first kill thank you very much. The mouse was my second, but Emberpelt helped me with that one." She said proudly to Wolfpaw.

"Cool! I'm not usually allowed to leave camp unless I'm getting Herbs for Greenmane."

"Really?" Nightpaw asked curiously.

"Nightpaw!" Emberpelt called before Wolfpaw could answer. "Take some prey to Birdtail."

Nightpaw looked at Wolfpaw. "Who?"

"Birdtail. A Queen in the nursery. She's really pretty. She's nice too. It's her mate you might have to watch out for, but I think he went on the border patrol." Wolfpaw said, casting an uneasy glance towards the warriors den.

"Hmm. Alright then." Nightpaw murmured, leaning down to pick up her mouse again.

"I'd best get back to Greenmane, see ya later Nightpaw." He said cheerfully with a playful flick of his tail in her direction as he padded off towards the medicine cat den.

With a gentle purr of affection for her friend, She walked to the nursery.

She gently nosed her way into the bracken, only to be tripped up by two little kits, one black, and one grey.

"Quartzclan is attacking! Die Yewstar!" The black she-kit squealed to the sky as she pummeled the grey ones under her paws.

"Enough now you two." Said Birdtail.

They broke apart and looked towards their mother.

"Aww, momma...Why? Can we please keep playing?"

"No, you may no-"

"Momma? Why is there an Onyxclan cat in our den?" said a pure white she-kit next to Birdtail.

Nightpaw gently padded into the den and laid down the mouse.

After a moment, The two kits closest to her squealed in terror and scrambled back, hiding in their mother's long white fur.

"Uh, Birdtail? This is for you."

Birdtail hesitated, trying to subtly put her tail over her kits, but Nightpaw noticed and flicked her tail in annoyance.

"T-Thank you, Nightpaw. I appreciate it." She muttered gently looking down to the mouse.

"You're welcome." Nightpaw said, but before she could say more, one of the kits leaped, hissing, at nightpaw.

"Onyxclan is invading!" The black kit yowled at the top of it's lungs.

Nightpaw stumbled back, trying to avoid the tiny attack, but the kit latched onto her front leg, and bit into it.

"Owlkit!" Birdtail screeched,"Get off of her this instant!"

"Ahh! Get off! I'm not invading anything!" Nightpaw yowled as she shook the kit free, making her fly through the air into her mother's paws.

Suddenly, Nightpaw felt teeth clamp around her tail, and drag her out of the nursery.

Nightpaw unsheathed her claws and whipped around immediately when she cleared the bracken covering the entrance, ripping her tail out of harm's way as she did so.

She was met by a black tom with a mud-spiked pelt glaring at her with rage-filled green eyes.

"You! What were you doing in there? Did you hurt any of the kits?" He growled furiously.

"N-No, I wasn't. I was-"

"She was bringing me something to eat. There's no need to worry Thornfur." Birdtail said, coming out of the den and laying her tail over the fearful apprentices shoulders.

"Off you go nightpaw." She said kindly, gently nudging her away towards the apprentices den.

With a furtive glance towards Thornfur, nightpaw hurried away, just to bump into Heatclaw.

Nightpaw looked up, her fur bristling at the sight of the menacing cat.

He looked down at her with unreadable yellow eyes.

"Nightpaw, What are you up to?"

Nightpaw sidestepped the deputy with a nervous smile, but did not answer.

Heatclaw put out a paw to stop Nightpaw.

"Nightpaw, come with me." He said quietly as he stood and walked towards the entrance to the camp.

Looking back at the apprentice den with tired eyes, Nightpaw stifled a yawn and followed.

Together they walked in silence through the forest until Nightpaw caught a scent that set her fur on end.

She stopped as she realized that the foliage was getting much thicker as they continued forth.

Heatclaw turned to Nightpaw.

"What's wrong?"

"We-We're close to Onyxclan territory." She breathed in response.

Heatclaw's yellow gaze burned into Nightpaw's fur as he studied her.

"I'm taking you home. You need to go." He said flatly as he moved towards her and leaned to pick her up by her scruff.

Nightpaw backed away, her fur fluffing up fully, and her claws unsheathing.

"N-No, I'm not going back. I can't they'll kill me, I'm a traitor the Onyxclan! I don't want to die!" She yowled as she turned and streaked away.

She Immediately heard Heatclaw follow at top speed.

Nightpaw ran hard, trying to outrun the Reddish-Orange cat, but he knew the territory better, and was almost on her in a few heartbeats.

She looked up and saw a high branch, but in her panic, she didn't realize that it likely out of reach.

Bunching her hind legs, she leaped, her claws outstretched towards the branch, and her tail streaming out from behind her.

Nightpaw's claws sunk into the wood of the branch as she latched on, and she hauled herself up and looked down.

Heatclaw looked up, slack jawed, as he stared up at the tabby apprentice who was now two whole fox-lengths above his head.

Nightpaw was just as stunned that she'd actually made it, now that she could see the height of the actual branch.

Heatclaw came back to his senses, and with a growl, leaped up, reaching towards the trunk of the tree instead of any of the branches to make his way up to her.

Nightpaw looked around, spying another branch that she might be able to make it to, if her leap to the one she was standing on was any tell.

She readied herself to leap once more, but stopped as Heatclaw called out to her.

"Nightpaw! Wait! Why are you running? Don't you want to go home?"

Nightpaw turned her head to look at the senior warrior.

"I can't go back. I told you, I'm a traitor to Onyxclan. I can't go back. Foxstar will kill me. I may want to go back, but I'm not stupid enough to do so." Nightpaw responded, a slight hiss escaping in her words.

With that, Nightpaw leaped off, launching through the trees with skill that she never thought she had.

Leaping through the trees was seemingly second nature to the young apprentice.

If it were leaf-bare, It would have been even easier, but for now, she had to contend with the branches and leaves battering her face and obscuring her vision as she moved on.

Following the scent of the clan that she was slowly getting accustomed to, she made her way to the clan, and clambered down a tree right outside the entrance to the camp and padded in.

With a loud sigh, she trotted over to the fresh kill pile and picked out a plump mouse that was on the top.

She looked around, hoping to find a nice lonely spot.

After a moment, she spied a small crack in the rocky face of the mountain, behind the boulders of the elder's den.

Making sure no one was watching, she slipped into the crack and entered into a rather snug cave, at least large enough for maybe two full grown cats side by side.

Nightfall purred to herself as she made sure that the cave was empty, and then laid down for her snack, finishing the mouse in only a few gulps.

She sighed,rolling around in the cave for a few moments, before slipping out back into the light.

Heatclaw was arranging a hunting patrol with a few of the warriors and apprentices, along with Wolfpaw, who was likely only going to find herbs for Greenmane.

Nightpaw quickly hid the cave with branches from the elder's bush, and padded over to Wolfpaw.

"Hiya Nightpaw." He said with a friendly flick of his tail.

Nightpaw gave a soft purr of greeting, gently burrowing her nose into his coarse blue-grey fur.

"Going to find herbs?" She asked the tom.

Wolfpaw nodded his head, his tail stuck up proudly.

"Leaf-fall's coming soon, so I need to get a bunch of new herbs to stock up. Especially catmint."

"Well, Have fun then Wolfpaw."

"Wait," He looked at Nightpaw ,"You're not coming?"

Nightfall shook her head.

"Nah, I need a quick nap before I do anything."

She turned away, and trotted to the apprentices den.

She nosed her way in, accidentally trodding on Lightpaw's tail as she passed.

Lightpaw's head shot up, and she hissed fiercely at Nightpaw, before standing and leaving the den with a huff of disgust.

"Sorry." Nightpaw said under her breath.

Tail drooping, she moved to her nest and laid down, Letting her eyes close as she drifted into sleep.

Alright, From here on out, This story is in 3rd person. I just wanted to say that.


	9. The wrong border

p id="docs-internal-guid-70dc7a27-7fff-7ebf-7f66-ad291ff2f604" dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The next time she was woken, It was well after sunhigh./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Nightpaw, wake up." A voice said./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw opened her eyes and looked up, finding Halfpaw standing over her./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Heatclaw is sending us on border patrol. Come on." He said before turning away and padding off, leaving Nightpaw to her own devices./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Shaking the sleep from her body, she walked out of the den and joined the group./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emberpelt was waiting for her, but though she smiled when she saw Nightpaw, she couldn't help noticing that her mentor seemed oddly tense./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She looked around at the other cats there. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"There was a white apprentice that she'd never talked to, Halfpaw's mentor, Wispclaw, and a dark brown tabby who she never saw before./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Alright, now that everyone's here, Let's go." The brown cat said./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Together, the group stood and left the camp, stepping out into the woods./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, Nightpaw, You've never really met skypaw, have you?" Halfpaw meowed behind her./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw turned her head to see the white apprentice that was with them./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""This is Skypaw. She's almost a full warrior now, Her assessment's tomorrow after the gathering tonight."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Gathering?" Nightpaw asked, slowing down to join the two apprentices./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah." Skypaw mewed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are you going to ask to go?" Halfpaw asked curiously./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw shuffled nervously, and looked down to the ground, but before she could respond, the dark brown tabby turned./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I thought this was a parol, not time to sit around and groom your fur." He growled to the apprentices./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sorry Groundpelt." The three apprentices mewed together./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They followed the mountain's edge for a few more foxlengths, with the brown tabby taking the lead until they came to a massive river./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Whoa, are we going to cross that?" Nightpaw asked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No." Wispclaw said, looking back to the apprentice. "Across this is the path to Silverleaf. It's a quarter moon or so's walk from here. But this is the end of our territory." He said as they all walked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Silverleaf." Nightpaw muttered to herself, looking down to the ground./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""The great tree where cats can speak with Starclan. You will have to go when you become a warrior, so our warrior ancestors can accept you." Emberpelt said, hearing her meow as a question. "But for now, you're an apprentice, So concentrate on the patrol."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw nodded and trudged alongside the other apprentices, her eyes roving the forest around her, which had become to get darker and thicker./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Suddenly there was a yowl from ahead, and the patrol paused./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The words "Prey stealing Rubyclan cats!" floated to them on the wind./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Looks like there's trouble." Skypaw meowed apprehensively./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Indeed." Groundpelt responded,"Let's go."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"WIth a flick of his tail, he lead the patrol deeper into the forest and stopped as he saw a hunting patrol confronting what seemed to be a border patrol./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw gasped. She knew the scent, It was unmistakable./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They were on the Onyxclan border now./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She wanted to move away, she wanted to leave the Border, terrified of going anywhere near the hissing cats, but when Groundpelt and the patrol pressed on towards the angrily spitting cats, she walked with them./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Wispclaw bounded forward ahead of the patrol./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What's happening here?" He demanded./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Your mousebrained warriors are trying to steal prey! They came on our side of the border!" Dovetail, a white she-cat with a fluffy tail, Hissed viciously, swinging unsheathed claws over the border towards Thornfur, who leaped back, snarling./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emberpelt Jumped between them, fur fluffing up and hackles raised./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well now we're on our side of the border, so back off." She growled./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""But it doesn't change the fact that they were stealing prey!" A Rust colored tom stepped out from behind Dovetail, along with a smaller calico apprentice. On her other side, Frogleg, a long legged grey tabby, appeared as well./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They stood side by side, in a line in front of the Rubyclan cats, all snarling and hissing with backs arched and fur fluffed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We will fight you all off if it comes to it!" The calico she-cat hissed to Skypaw./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Rubyclan cats mirrored the Onyxclanners, forming a line of hissing, snarling cats./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Suddenly, Frogleg gave a loud yowl./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You!" He cried, staring directly at Nightpaw./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw crouched lower to the ground, her tail lashing./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dovetail shoved past Frogleg./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Traitor! I have half a mind to tear you to shreds you Mouse-hearted loner! Abandoning your birth clan to join these mange-ridden excuses for cats!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"All the cats around dovetail tensed, readying themselves to leap into battle./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm not a traitor Dovetail. Foxstar is spreading lies." Nightpaw squeaked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The white she-cat snarled viciously then stood, glaring at the Rubyclan cats./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Get away from here. All of you. and don't come onto our territory ever again, or else we'll tear your stupid ears off."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Flicking her tail to the rest of the patrol, she turned and stalked off, disappearing into the thick bushes behind her./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"For a moment, all the cats stood there with confused expressions until dovetail stuck her head back through the bush./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What are you doing standing there like fluff-brained mice? Come on!" She snapped angrily./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With a few last looks back at the Rubyclan patrol, The onyxclan cats turned and made their way back farther into their territory./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emberpert sat down with a sigh and licked her fur in attempt to relax./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Skypaw padded over to Nightpaw./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So, You are an Onyxclan cat? The rumors were true?" She asked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The tabby sighed in response, fixing Skypaw with a hard gaze./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yes, I /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"was/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" an Onyxclan cat. But I'm not anymore. But I'm sure that won't stop you from hating me like almost every other cat does." She said, her words bitter./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I wasn't planning on hating you, but with that attitude I might." Skypaw giggled./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You need to tell me the story sometime though."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw allowed herself a smile at the white she cat's joke./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thanks. I needed that." Nightpaw purred./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No problem. I like to think I'm pretty funny. So, about the Gathering. Are you coming?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw looked back towards the border./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Maybe. I'm not sure. I-"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You should come with us. Who cares about those Fox-Hearted Onyxclan cats?" Halfpaw said, padding up next to Nightpaw./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Before Nightpaw could respond, Thornfur Interrupted them./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Come on, we're leaving now." Thornfur said, turning away from the three apprentices. "And you should go back over your border." He said, glancing at nightpaw out of the corner of his eye./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw's ears slicked back against her head as she snarled under her breath./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She felt both Halfpaw and Skypaw put their tails on her back as a gesture of comfort, and she looked gratefully at the the both of them./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"All the way back, the apprentices chattered happily, and the two of them even managed to convince nightpaw to ask if she could go to the gathering. By time they made it back, Heatclaw was already beginning to sort out the cats who would be going./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As the patrol entered, he glanced up and gave a meow of greeting./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Emberpelt, you've returned." He purred, touching his nose to hers for a moment before drawing away again./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're going to the gathering tonight. You too Wispclaw, and Bring Halfpaw as well."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emberpelt was about to go back to the warriors den to give her fur a quick wash before the gathering, but Nightpaw stopped her./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Emberpelt?" The young apprentice said, bounding up beside her mentor./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Golden she cat turned to look at her with a mock irritated flick of her ears./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What is it Nightpaw?" She meowed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw hesitated, suddenly feeling less confident to ask her mentor./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""C-could I go to the gathering with you?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emberpelt started, clearly not expecting the question./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are you sure? There will be cats from Onyxclan there. It may not be entirely safe for you, even with the truce."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I want to go. I've never been able to go to the gathering before, because I was just a kit, and then I was a rouge."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well, If you're sure, then come with me. We need to ask Heatclaw. He's organizing the gathering cats."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With a flick of her tail, she turned away and made her way across camp, with nightpaw trailing uneasily behind./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Heatclaw? Nightpaw has just told me she wants to go to the gathering with us." Emberpelt called as she came within earshot of the deputy./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked up, his eyes first on Her mentor, then his gaze locking on the apprentice, who stood tall despite her rising fear as they approached him./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""She does, does she? No. She can't. At least, not as a member of-"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Nightpaw will be going to the gathering."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"All three cats turned to look at Wickerstar emerging from her den, the waning light dying her fur a fiery orange./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She padded over to stand on Nightpaw's other side, her tail gently stroking the Apprentice's back. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Heatclaw stood, saying nothing, a silent challenge to the leader who met his eyes with an unwavering calm./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Deputy looked away first, unable to take Wickerstar's piercing calm./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Without turning, she flicked her tail and padded off to the fresh-kill pile./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well." Emberpelt said, breaking the lingering tension."You'd better get something in your belly, since we'll be going to the gathering later."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nodding, Nightpaw followed Wickerstar to the Fresh-kill pile and picked up a rather large mouse./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She was about to drop it and pick something else when she felt a cat walk up beside her on each side./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Need some help sharing that?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She looked up to see the smiling faces of both Wolfpaw and Halfpaw beside her./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Mmm hmmm" She meowed through the mouse's fur./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"All three cats, working together, dragged the mouse towards a small overhang next to the medicine cat's den and settled under it, side by side./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"For a while, they ate silently, happy to be in each other's friendly company./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So Nightpaw, are you going to the gathering?" Wolfpaw asked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw nodded, her mouth too full to accurately speak./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Really? That's Great! I can introduce you to some of my friends in Quartzclan and Sapphireclan!" Wolfpaw mewed excitedly, his tail flicking back and forth in excitement./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Halfpaw reached over Nightpaw to bat the excited apprentice in the ear./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We're not supposed to have friend in other clans, mousebrain!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, look who's talking Mr. I have a crush on Tuftpaw!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Halfpaw's eyes widened and he withdrew his paw, falling silent./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw looked at wolfpaw, who seemed totally unaware of the mood change./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Tuftpaw?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Wolfpaw smiled mischeviously./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Tuftpaw is a Sapphireclan apprentice who Halfpaw happens to fancy a bit. She a small brown cat, I'll show her to you when we get to the gathering. I'm sure she'll be there to see him."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Suddenly, Halfpaw stands with no warning, and stiffly walks off./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hmm...On second thought, maybe I shouldn't have said that." Wolfpaw said, standing up and setting off after the Brown and black cat,"Hey Halfpaw, Wait up! I didn't mean to, hey, wait!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw watched until they were out of earshot, then proceeded to finish off the mouse./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nightpaw sighed and laid there, relaxing and watching the clan as the moon rose. After a while, A yowl resounded through the camp, startling Nightpaw out of her half-sleep./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It was time./span/p 


	10. The gathering

"Will all cats who are attending the gathering please come to the camp entrance!" Wickerstar called, her yowl echoing through the camp.

Roused from her sleep, Nightpaw stood, stretched, and joined the growing group of cats.

She looked around for Halfpaw or wolfpaw, but saw neither of them.

Suddenly she bumped into someone, and he looked up.

In front of her, Lightpaw turned and stared at her with her hackles raised.

"Watch where you're going Mousebrain! I don't want your stink all over my fur!" She snarled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you." Nightpaw said, clearly still distracted by her search.

"You call that an apology? You're not even looking at me!" The golden apprentice screeched furiously.

When Nighpaw didn't respond, She hissed and with her claws unsheathed, swiped her paw in front of Nightpaw's face, causing the Brown-striped cat to jump back.

Before Nightpaw could retaliate, Lightpaw turned with a vicious hiss and disappeared into the crowd of cats.

"Whoa. Lightpaw's seriously got a temper, eh?" Someone mewed in Nightpaw's ear, making her whip around to see Skypaw standing next to her.

"Oh, yeah, I really wish she wouldn't though." She muttered to the smirking apprentice

"Hey," Nightpaw said, Perking up."Have you seen Wolfpaw or Halfpaw anywhere?"

Yeah, they're coming. Greenmane was yelling at the both of them. It seems that they messed up his herbs. Again" Skypaw snickered.

"Oh wow. Well, hopefully they'll be here soon. We're about to leave I think." Nightpaw responded, her tail flicking towards the leader, who had leapt down from her ledge and moved to the front of the group.

The leader and deputy nodded to each other as they passed, and Heatclaw gave a loud last call for the gathering group.

Nightpaw saw Greenmane pad out of the medicine den with the two apprentices she'd been looking for bounding out from behind him to join her and Skypaw.

After a moment more, Whickerstar flicked her tail and disappeared through the stone tunnel out of camp.

In pairs, The group followed her out and they made their way to rockpool.

The group ran through the forest, all cats at a full, silent pelt.

Nightfall and Halfpaw run side-by-side, both occasionally glancing at each other as the clan stops just below the hill that leads up to the clearing.

After a moment of hesitation, Wickerstar leapt up the hill and everyone followed her onto the flat clearing where the other clan cats were chatting nonchalantly with each other around the five tall boulders in the center.

"Whoa!" Halfpaw muttered under his breath as he lept up next to her.

Nightpaw glanced at him, an amused smile on her muzzle.

"What, never been here before?" She asked.

Halfpaw shook his head distractedly as he took in rockpool, and the amounts of cats that were there.

"Guys!" Wolfpaw calls, butting between the two apprentices.

"What?" Nightpaw asked.

"I want you to meet the other Medicine cats!" He meows excitedly.

"Yeah!" Halfpaw said, snapping out of his stupor.

"Sure I'll come too!" Nightpaw said.

The two cats followed wolfpaw as he bounded towards the group of medicine cats.

As they got closer, Wolfpaw called out to the group.

"Hey guys, what's up?" He called as he came to a jittery rest at Greemnane's side.

"Aye, Wolfpaw. Here e' is. I was jus' tellin' Featherfoot how well you've been doin' lately."

"Yes." Featherfoot said in a soft voice."I've heard that you bound a cat's leg at some point as well. You've been getting better at healing cats I bet."

"Yes! I did bind a cat's leg as a matter of fact! I was my friend, Nightpaw!" Wolfpaw responded, jumping up and rubbing up against the startled black apprentice.

"Nightpaw? Well, how did Wolfpaw do? I hope he fixed it well." Featherfoot said, standing and sniffing Nightpaw's hind legs.

"Uh, yeah! He did great. My legs work as good as new. He's a fantastic medicine cat." She said, stretching her legs to prove her point.

Standing again, she nodded approvingly to Wolfpaw, who started purring loudly as he sat proudly.

Greenmane chuckled lightly as he groomed his chest.

Suddenly Featherfoot looked up.

"Ah, Moonshadow. Good of you to join us."

Nightpaw and wolfpaw turned to see a black she-cat with brown stripes over her back. Her Silvery-white eyes locked on Nightpaw's, and she stopped.

Nightpaw stood up slowly, her eyes narrowing.

"Moonkit?" Nightpaw said slowly.

"Moonshadow." She corrected. "What are you doing here you traitorous kit? Weren't you a rogue?"

"It's none of your business other than the fact that I belong here." Nightpaw said smoothly. "I'm here with my Clan." She stressed the last word.

Nightpaw could see the fur on Moonshadow's back beginning to rise.

Wolfpaw seemed to notice as well, and walked between the two hostile she cats.

"Hey Nightpaw, weren't you and Halfpaw going to go do something?" He meowed loudly, causing the brown and black cat to stop his conversation and pad over.

He immediately caught on to the tension, and gently laid his tail over Nightpaw's back, somewhat startling her.

"Come on Nightpaw. Let's go find Skypaw."

After a moment longer of Their hostile staring contest, Nightpaw turned and followed after Halfpaw as he lead her away.

"You okay?" He asked, glancing at her.

"Fine."

He lead her away from the medicine cats to a mostly uninhabited spot. He stopped and looked at her.

"You're not ok. What's going on? Who was that cat?"

Nightpaw grit her teeth.

"It was my stupid traitor of a sister. Moonki-, Moonshadow. She was part of the reason that me and my mom were kicked out of Onyxclan."

"Oh." Halfpaw said, sitting beside her, his fur against hers in an attempt to comfort her.

Nightpaw hissed under her breath as she looked at her sister sitting slightly away from the other medicine cats.

She glanced up and bared her teeth at Nightpaw and Halfpaw, her white muzzle wrinkling as she snarled at them.

Halfpaw, wanting to distract his friend, called over skypaw who brought three cats from other clans with her.

"Hey guys!" Skypaw said cheerfully. "Have you met my friends yet?"

Nightpaw shook her head.

"Well, this is Puffpaw and his brother, Gravelpaw. They're from Quartzclan."  
The two grey apprentices nodded, and Gravelpaw smiled, revealing a muzzle of crooked fangs.

"And this is-"

"You!" Nightpaw gasped as a familiar tom with a torn ear stepped out from behind Skypaw.

"Oh? You know Strikepaw?"

Strikepaw stood and stared at Nightpaw, clearly confused.

"I've met you? I don't remember." He meowed gently.

Pointing at his ear with a paw, she said,"I was the one who accidentally did that to your ear that day I was hunting with Emberpelt."

"Oh, yeah, that's where I got that from! Huh, I thought a mouse came and bit it off in the middle of the night!" He purred with amusement. "Well, Don't worry, it's fine. Think of it as a battle scar!"

Nightpaw have a nervous smile.

"Really? You don't mind?" Nightpaw asked.

Strikepaw shook his head with a smile.

"Well, that's good. Anyway, My name is Nightpaw. I'm a Rubyclan apprentice!" She said, puffing her chest out proudly.

"Yeah, and I'm Halfpaw. I was apprenticed recently too." He interjected, not one to let the black she-cat take all the glory.

Suddenly a loud screech sounded behind them, and they all turned to see a brown blur slam into Halfpaw.

With a yowl of surprise, Halfpaw fell to the ground on his back as the brown blur took the form of a small fluffy-tailed brown she-cat.

"Halfpaw! Guess you didn't see that coming!" She said as she jumped off of him.

Skypaw laughed and nudged Nightpaw.

"That's Tuftpaw." In a lower voice she added,"Halfpaw Looooves her."

Both she-cats snickered.

Halfpaw stood up and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, The four clan leaders had leapt on top of the boulders and had called for silence.

Their deputies took their places just below them on a jutting platform orf rock or a smaller boulder, and the medicine cats lined up in front of everyone on the ground.

Once everyone was situated, the gathering began.

The first to speak was the Sapphireclan leader, Lionstar, leaping from his rock to the tallest boulder in the center to speak.

"Prey is running, and swimming, well in Sapphireclan. Though both Rubyclan and Quartzclan cats insist on trying to cross the border and steal prey, our clan stays strong."

Multiple cats from both of the clans Lionstar mentioned grumbled in annoyance at his words.

Strike paw leaned over to whisper in Nightpaw's ear.

"I think Lionstar is too paranoid. A lot of our clan are. When I'm leader, we won't be afraid. Other clans would never step foot onto our territory."

Nightpaw didn't respond. Instead, she took notice of the fact that Tuftpaw's tail was loosely wrapped around Halfpaw's.

"Other than that," Lionstar continued,"We have new warriors and apprentices. For the warriors, Spiderpaw had earned the name Spiderfang, and Umberpaw, Umberpelt."

Chants of "Spiderfang!" and "Umberpelt!" rippled through the gathering place.

"And three kits have reached three moons, Leekpaw, Reedpaw, and Dustpaw."

Nightpaw looked over and saw one of the three apprentices, a white she cat with silver markings lick her chest in embarrassment as the apprentice's names were chanted.

Next up was Yewstar of Quartzclan who reported only that there were two new warriors, Kestrelfoot and Harenose.

Nightpaw swallowed as the next leader took the place of Yewstar. It was Foxstar.

He stood silently, his green eyes flashing as he waited for silence from the gathered cats.

Sensing Nightpaw's rising unease at her former leader, though not entirely understanding it, Halfpaw separated himself from Tuftpaw, and pressed his fur against the black apprentice.

Tuftpaw shot a resentful look towards him, but said nothing.

"Prey has indeed flown well in Onyxclan. Our newest warrior is Rosewind, and we've gained three new apprentices in Baypaw, Flakepaw, and Shrewpaw. However, it seems that we've lost a valuable kit to Rubyclan. My deputy's poor daughter was stolen away by fox-hearted excuses for cats. I would be quite grateful if Wickerstar would be so kind as to tell her thieving clan to give her back."

As Foxstar leapt down off of the center rock, the gathering place was silent.

Wickerstar leapt back up onto the rock, unshaken by the ill-hidden threats of the Onyxclan leader.

"Prey has run well in Rubyclan territory. Our newest cat, Nightpaw, has only recently been apprenticed." She said clearly, looking pointedly towards Foxstar,"This clan will not be wavered by your threats Foxstar. She will not be returned to you. Especially since she came to rubyclan being chased by your deputy with full intent to kill her?"

Those last words echoed through rockpool, the silence thick as some cats turned to Nightpaw, and others turned to look accusingly at the Onyxclan cats.

Suddenly Thornfur stood.

"I say take her. We don't want her."

"I'll second that. Take her back to where she belongs!" Called out Greyfang.

Next was Iceclaw and Lightpaw who both cried out against Nightpaw.

Slowly, each Rubyclan cat gave their opinion, and with each negative one, Nightpaw buried her muzzle deeper into Halfpaw's fur.

Suddenly she heard Greenmane silence every cat with a loud yowl.

"Cats of Rubyclan! This ain't the way we do things round' ere'. It's up to the Leader and er' deputy! Not you blundering group of fleabags."

His speech done, he looked up to his leader, who was sitting calmly on the center boulder, her light brown tail wrapped neatly about her paws.

"Indeed, This decision does come down to the decisions of me and my deputy. Heatclaw, do you believe Nightpaw should stay, or leave?"

"No!" Nightpaw whispered frantically, looking up to Heatclaw, her red eyes flashing with panic."He hates me! He even tried to force me back one time. He'll say he wants me to go back to Onyxclan!"

Halfpaw's tail wrapped around hers.

"He won't. He won't force you back." Skypaw said as she pressed against Nightpaw on her other side.

Nightpaw looked up, and realized that Heatclaw was staring directly at her, the moonlight setting his pelt aflame.

He opened his mouth to speak.

"Nightpaw should stay with Rubyclan. I will not let a cat so young become unfairly spilled blood. She can become a great warrior."

Heatclaw nodded to the apprentice then sat down, His eyes roving over the gathering cats.

"Then it is settled. Nightpaw will not return to Onyxclan." Wickerstar said, jumping down to her rock then to the ground.

Suddenly, as the other clan leaders leapt off of their own laces, Foxstar leapt up onto the large middle stone again and called out, catching the cats attention again.

"Wickerstar of Rubyclan, do not let a kit begin a war so much bigger than it's life is worth."

He leapt down and slipped away into the forest, his clan melting into the shadows with him.

The rest of the the cats watched them go, and once they were gone, broke into whispers and chatter between the rest of the cats.

The leader and deputy of Rubyclan leapt to the ground together.

Heatclaw padded towards Nightpaw and looked down at her.

"I never knew how you truly came around to Rubyclan. I'm sure Emberpelt will turn you into a fine warrior. I will be watching with great interest, and should a Shadowclan warrior attack you, your clan will be by your side." He said before giving the apprentice a small smile And turning away, his tail flicking as he joined Emberpelt on their way out of the gathering.

A short silence followed his words until Tuftpaw cleared her throat and stood.

"Well, I guess we'd better be going, huh?" She stood up, rubbing her fur against Halfpaw's, causing him to stand and walk with her as they walked off, the rest of the apprentices following as they all joined their rest of their respective clans.

A few foxlengths away from the entrance to rubyclan, Nightpaw slipped away from the rest of the group near a large boulder.

She trotted off and found herself in a small clearing with bushes on all sides.

For a moment, the apprentice paused, an image of her mother and her playing in a clearing just like this the day Blackfur found them.

She sat and curled her tail delicately over her paws.

"Mom? Tigerstripe? Are you proud of me? I hope you are mom. I love you." She whispered to herself. "I Miss you."

"So is that the reason you left Onyxclan?"

Nightpaw leapt up with yowl of fear, whipping around to come face to face with Halfpaw.

"Whoa. Are you ok?" He asked, recoiling slightly at her reaction.

Calming down, Nightpaw sat again and furiously licked her fur to flatten it again.

"I'm fine. Did you follow me?"

"Kinda. I saw you leave, and I wanted to make sure you were ok."

For a moment, the two stared at each other, red to blue and green.

"So what did happen? Is there a reason you came to this clan?" halfpaw asked after a moment, his eyes leaving hers.

Nightpaw sighed.

"I guess I can tell you."

Halfpaw perked up with a half smile.

"Really? I didn't think you would. It seemed a sensitive subject at the gathering."

Nightpaw's tail flicked, beckoning Halfpaw to sit by her side.

Sitting together, the black apprentice looked up to the stars and began to tell Halfpaw her story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Ok, holy wow this was a LOOOOONG chapter! Huh. Well, I guess it's here now!

I can't be allowed to do this. Do I make chapters too long? I might. Well, to anyone who reads this story, do you like the chapter length? or would you rather have it be shorter? I feel like these would come out faster if I limited myself with chapter length. Ah well.

Anywho, I've finally started post again! In't that great? I'll try to keep updating and not leave this thing to fester for like a year./span/span/span/p


	11. The Stranger

Nightpaw woke with a start, laying in the clearing with Halfpaw curled up next to her, the sun shining down on the two cats.  
With a yawn and a stretch, Nightpaw stood and tapped Halfpaw's head to wake him up.

"Hey, We should probably be getting back. I'm sure our mentors will be looking for us." Nightpaw said, nudging the sleepy apprentice again with her nose.

Halfpaw stood drowsily, trying to get his paws under him correctly before following Nightpaw out of the small clearing.

They walked towards the clan camp for a moment before the black she-cat stopped suddenly.

"Wait. I think I smell something."

Halfpaw paused and looked back at her, a questioning look on his face.

"Huh? What do you mean you smell something?" He asked.

"I...I'm not sure. Maybe we should check it out?" Nightpaw muttered, walking up beside Halfpaw again.

The black and brown cat hesitated for a moment, his curious look even more defined now.

"I don't think so. Wispclaw always told me if there was anything strange on Rubyclan territory, then I need to have a warrior for backup."

"We don't have a warrior here now. It may be something important. And if we find out, then we can report back to Wickerstar."

Halfpaw hesitated.

"Well, If you want to get a warrior, that's fine. I'll go look for whatever it is. I'll leave a trail from here ok?"

"I don't want to leave you to do this by yourself. What if it's something that you can't handle alone?"

Nightpaw bristled and narrowed her eyes at him.

"What, do you think I can't handle it?" She said, a hint of indignation in her voice.

"Uhh…" Halfpaw murmured, his eyes flickering in the direction of the Rubyclan camp.

Nightpaw lashed her tail in irritation but quickly composed herself.

"Fine, go get somecat while I go make sure whatever this is isn't dangerous." Nightpaw said, turning to head towards the smell.

"No, wait, I'm coming. I can't leave you to do this by yourself." Halfpaw said quickly, bounding up next to her.

The black apprentice flicked her tail in acknowledgement. As she crouched down and made her way through the bushes.

Above them, the sky grew darker as the clouds covered the sun, a smell of water clearly on the air.

The two apprentices snuck through the underbrush, Nightpaw leading the way as they pressed on.

The bushes got a bit thicker as they moved on, giving the young cats trouble making it through.

"Oh starclan, Whatever that is, It smells disgusting." Halfpaw said.

Finally they push through with Nightpaw in the lead as they came out to see a pile of dead and rotting prey.

Nightpaw recoiled in disgust, putting a paw over her nose.

"Ugh! What is this?" She said, her eyes taking in the pile of...what looked to be half eaten carcasses.

"Maybe We should leave and tell Wickerstar or Wispclaw." Halfpaw said, His fur fluffing out as his claws slowly unsheathed.

Nightpaw's pelt began to prick as well as a feeling of dread washed over her.

She looked to Halfpaw and nodded slowly.

Sensing her fear, he forced his fur back down and brushed his tail against her side.

Together, they both slowly turned and came face to face with a massive, mangy grey cat.

Both apprentices screeched in terror and scrambled back.

The grey cat watched the two with unreadable yellow eyes.

Halfpaw was the first to speak.  
"Wh-Who are you?" He asked, standing confidently despite his shaky voice. "You are on R-Rubyclan territory!"

"What are you doing?" Nightpaw hissed quietly "Are you trying to talk to him? Concentrate on being ready to fight!"

The grey cat smirked slightly.

"Your friend's smart. Willing to try stopping a fight before it starts."

Nightpaw hissed in return.

The grey cat slowly padded forward towards the two, causing nightpaw to pull her lips back in a snarl.

"Stay back!" She snarled as Halfpaw readied himself to a fight beside her.

The grey cat paused, flexing his claws and gently scraping the ground.

With a vicious hiss, the grey cat launched at the two apperentices.

Halfpaw rolled to the side to dodge, but Nightpaw didn't budge, and leapt forward into the face of their attacker.

"Nightpaw!" Halfpaw youwled in fear as the apprentice took the grey cat completely by suprise.

He stumbled back with a pained screech as he clawed at Nightpaw's pelt.

When he finally managed to pull her off, he snarled and leapt at her, but got distracted by Halfpaw slamming into his side with a yowl.

Bristling, the massive cat turned and bit hard into Halfpaw's lashing tail, causing him to howl, but he refused to let go.

Nightpaw stood, limping slightly as a massive scratch deep in her front leg leaked blood down her fur, stainig her brown paws crimson.

She crouched and struck out, catching the grey tom across the muzzle as he turned his head.

With a snarl, he finally shook Halfpaw off, throwing him to the ground and backing up slightly, twitching his wiskers to clear them of blood.

The three faced off, Halfpaw returning to Nightpaw's side as a drizzle of rain began to fall, washing the blood from the pelts of the cats, staining the ground red.

"We aren't afraid of you, rogue!" Nightpaw growled viciously.

"Yeah! We'll protect our clan's terriory with our Lives!" Halfpaw snarled.

The grey tom narrowed his eyes, his lips drawn and fur fluffed.

"Cocky little clan kits think that they can beat a full-grown cat. Well I'll-"

Suddenly he was cut off by a white and golden-brown blur bashed him into the bushes.

The two apprentices stood shocked as loud caterwauls emanated from the bush, until suddenly everything fell silent.

The two apprentices looked at eachother, bewildered.

The bush began to shudder, and the young cats prepared once again for a fight, but relaxed once they saw who was coming out.

"Emberpelt! Wispclaw!" They said in unison.

The two warriors stood side by side, The grey cat draped over Wispclaw's shoulders.

Emberpelt padded forward, her eyes glinting with rage.

"What in Starclan's name are you two doing out here?! The whole clan's been going mad looking for you both! What were you thinking? You both could have been killed!" She spat, batting Nightpaw hard on her ears.

"Emberpelt is right. You both have some serious explaining to do." Wispclaw said, moving forward.

Halfpaw Hung his head, but Nightpaw puffed her chest, meeting her mentor's gaze.

"I was checking to make sure that what I smelled wasn't a threat. If I didn't, that mange-ridden cat could have eaten our prey or come into our clan!" Nightpaw argued.

"You should have come gotten me or any other warrior from camp!" Emberpelt hissed, her fur fluffing as her purple eyes glittered with undisguised fury.

The two stood, snarling and hissing at each other defiantly.

Their stalemate was broken by a small black and white tom crashed ungraciously through the bush.

Crowface stood, barely coming to Emberpelt's belly.

"Did you two find your troublesome apprentices yet?"

"Yes, Crowface, we did." Wispclaw said smoothly, discreetly positioning himself between Emberpelt and Nightpaw. "Thank you for coming to help us find them."

The small warrior gave a hearty "Harrumph" as he turned and made his way back towards camp.

Emberpelt turned her wrath back towards Nighpaw and opened her mouth to berate her again, but Wispclaw intercepted before she could speak.

"This cat is heavy. Let's get back to the camp, shall we?"

Emberpelt nodded stiffly, glaring at the apprentices before turning and leading the way back to the clan, tail and head high.

Nightpaw looked dolefully at Halfpaw, her fur flattening as guilt and rain seeped into it.

The four cats walked in silence all the way to the camp, their progress only slightly hindered by Nightpaw's heavy limp from the wound in her leg.

Once they finally made it back into the camp, Wispclaw turned to the two young cats as Emberpelt stormed off to the warrior's den with an almost visible aura of fury around her fur.

"You both are to go to Greenmane's den. Wickerstar will know about this, as I'm sure you know. I am honestly quite disappointed in you both. Especially you Halfpaw."

He turned away, still with the grey cat on his back as he made his way to Wickerstar's den.

Head and tail drooping, Halfpaw made his way to the medicine den, Nightpaw limping along behind.

Greenmane had nosed out at the sound of his name, and watched the apprentices as they made their way to him.

He stood aside as they entered, saying nothing until they both were settled on nests next to each other.

"So. Ya both went out and got yerselves hurt, eh?" He said without looking at either of them as he padded to the back of the den, where herbs were stacked on the shelves of rock.

"Where's wolfpaw?" Nightpaw asked, unwilling to answer his question.

"Out." Greenmane grunted.

Nightpaw fell silent as Greenmane dug in the stores of herbs.

Soon after, he came back to Nightpaw carrying a poultice made from herbs she couldn't Identify.

He licked the blood, both wet and partially dried from the wound on Nightpaw's leg, causing her to flinch, He then licked the poultice onto it.

"I'm back!" Wolfpaw said as he padded into the den, carrying a stick covered in cobwebs.

He took a quick look around and paused.

"Nightpaw? Why are you here? Halfpaw? What happened to you guys?" He said, almost dropping the stick.

"Wolfpaw!" Greenmane barked."Stop yapping an' get those cobwebs over ere!'"

The grey apprentice nodded and hurried over to Nightpaw's side, Skillfully placing the cobweb over it.

"That looks bad, It may not heal entirely." Wolfpaw whispered, making sure to keep his mentor from hearing it. "You might get a really cool scar though."

Nightpaw said nothing as her head laid on her paws.

Guilt, hot under her pelt, drowned out Wolfpaw.

She felt like she had failed Emberpelt, what with the way she reacted.

With a soft whimper, she tucked her nose under her paw, mentally kicking herself for upsetting the Golden-Brown cat.

Greenmane and his apprentice silently patched up the two.

"Would either of you like to have some poppy seeds? For the pain?" Wolfpaw said, as Greenmane left the medicine den.

The two cats shook their heads.

Wolfpaw dipped his head and turned away.

"Ok, Well, I'm going to get something to eat. If ya need me…"

Once he was gone, a long silence stretched through the medicine den.

Finally tired of the silence, Halfpaw slowly got to his paws and laid next to Nightpaw in her nest.

"Hey, Are you ok?" He asked in a low voice.

Nightpaw said nothing, unwilling to talk at the moment.

He gently prodded her with his paw.

"Nightpaw, I know you're sad about Emberpelt, but she was just worried. I'm sure she wasn't…"

"They'll throw me out." Nightpaw muttered."They already don't trust me, and bringing a rogue into camp…"

Before Halfpaw could say anything else, Skypaw nosed her way into the medicine den.

"Hy guyph." She mumbled over the fur of a large squirrel.  
She spat it out and wrinkled her nose.

"Squirrel fur gets everywhere, I swear. Anyway, wanna share? I kinda thought at least one of you would be hungry."

Halfpaw nodded enthusiastically, his hungry eyes trained on the fresh-kill in front of him.

Skypaw looked curiously at Nightpaw.

"Do you want to share too?"

She looked away, tucking her nose under her paw.

"Nightpaw...You need to eat." Halfpaw whispered gently, pushing the squirrel towards his friend.

The black she-cat's stubbornness didn't last long in the presence of the smell, and soon enough, she turned and took a bite out of the squirrel, her belly rumbling obnoxiously loudly after the fresh-kill touched her tongue.

With a smirk, Halfpaw looked back to Skypaw.

"So, did you pass your assessment?" He asked, taking a bite for himself.

"Of course I did!" She said, sitting tall and puffing her chest. "I'll be a warrior soon! Probably today as a matter of fact."

"I'll probably never be a warrior. I'd become a rogue sooner." Nightpaw said darkly.

"Oh, quit yer whining. You're not gonna be kicked outta 'ere." Greenmane said, coming back and settling down in the very back of the medicine den.

Nightpaw shot a rueful look at the grey-furred medicine cat.

Suddenly a yowl from outside cut the air.

"Will all cats who can catch their own prey gather beneath the cliff for a clan meeting!"

Skypaw sot to her paws, her eyes suddenly wild.

"Oh, Oh no, she's calling for a meeting! Do you think...?" Suddenly she turned and without finishing her thought, she shot outside, likely to be with her mentor.

Nightpaw looked at Halfpaw curiously.

"The cliff?"

"Right, you wouldn't know. The last time we had to gather, Wickerstar used the Boulder, but there's a tunnel in the mountain that leads to an open cave. She usually addresses the clan from there. Come on, we can go look."

Together, the two Apprentices padded from the den into the clearing. True to his word, Wickerstar was indeed sitting high above the camp, looking down from a cavern big enough for three cats to stand comfortably.

Nightpaw wondered how she didn't ever notice it.

"I call my clan today to welcome two new warriors to Rubyclan. Badgerpaw, Skypaw, please step forward."

Looking to the space left in the middle of the clan, Nightpaw saw the white and black apprentice pad proudly towards the cliff and sit with his tail curled curtly over his paws.

Skypaw, however, could barely even contain her excitement, and practically vibrated on her paws as she took her place next to him.

"Badgerpaw, after long moons of training and learning the ways of a true Rubyclan warrior, Your mentor, Greyfang, believes that it is time."

She turned to Greyfang, who came forward to stand next to Badgerpaw.

"Greyfang, do you truly believe that Badgerpaw has learned to his greatest ability, and is ready to receive his warrior name?"

"He is indeed Wickerstar." Greyfang drawled, his tail flicking being the only sign of his excitement and pride.

With a nod, She looked to Groundpelt, who came forward as well.

"Groundpelt, do you believe the same of Skypaw?"

"She will make the clan proud." He said, his eyes glittering.

"Then Badgerpaw, Skypaw, do you both swear to your starclan ancestors that you will uphold the warrior code, and serve and defend this clan with tooth, claw, and life?"

Badgerpaw stood, his pelt rippling as he looked up to his leader, determination in his eyes.

"Yes Wickerstar. I will." He said.

"I will protect this clan with everything I have!" Skypaw shouted, standing proudly.

"Then with the blessing of Starclan, I give you both your warrior names. Badgerpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Badgerstrike in honor of your tact and strength in battle, and your hunting skill. Skypaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Skywish in honor of your unshakeable optimism and your ability to soothe cats in a time of stress or fear. I, and the rest of rubyclan are proud to call you both full warriors of Rubyclan. May you serve your clan long and well!"

The clan erupted into cheers of "Skywish! Badgerstrike!"

Nightaw and Halfpaw chanted alongside them, cheering their white-pelted friend on, earning a bright smile from the newly named warrior.

Once the clan had quieted, Wickerstar continued.

"You both will sit vigil upon the cliff, watching over the clan tonight. Tomorrow, you both may rest."

With that, Wickerstar whisked down to the two new warriors, and touched noses with each.

"Wow." Halfpaw said. "I can't wait until we have our warrior ceremony. Do you think we'll have it together even though you came from another clan?"

Nightpaw shrugged, and glanced over the camp, trying to find something to change the subject.

"Hey, Has Underfur always been so...Large?" She asked, her eyes trained on the brown she-cat's bulging belly.

"She's gonna ave kits soon." Greenmane said behind them.

"Kits? Whose?" Nightpaw asked.

"No Idea. She came back to camp one day like that and ain't say where she got 'em from."

The two apprentices looked at each other for a moment before Halfpaw stood up.

"Hey greenmane, you think we can leave now?"

"You can." He said, nodding to him."Nightpaw stays. That's a nasty scratch she has."

"Oh. Ok, I might…" He looked to Nightpaw.

She flicked her tail nonchalantly, signaling that he could just go.

As Nightpaw put her nose beneath her paw once more, Halfpaw turned and left, giving a slightly wounded look back over his shoulder towards the tabby as he did so.

With a soft sigh, Nightpaw closed her eyes, hearing the clan settling down as the sun started to sink below the horizon.

Her last thought before sleep claimed her was dread at seeing her mentor again when she woke.


End file.
